Look Into My Eyes
by The Renegade Reaper
Summary: Luffy was just starting his journey. He was looking for new crewmates and a new ship. He had absolutely no idea about the Grand Line or the adventures that he would face. But as soon as he looked into Roronoa Zoro's eyes, he started to remember things that hadn't happened yet. Suddenly, he knew exactly what to do. He had done this before after all.
1. Prologue

**Look Into My Eyes**

Luffy was just starting his journey. He was looking for new crewmates and a new ship. He had absolutely no idea about the Grand Line or the adventures that he would face. But as soon as he looked into Roronoa Zoro's eyes, he started to remember things that hadn't happened yet. Suddenly, he knew exactly what to do. He had done this before after all.

 **Prologue**

 **AN:** This is my first ever fanfiction, so it's probably not going to be good. English isn't my first language either. In this fic, the whole Straw-hats come back, not just Luffy. There's almost no OCs except the little girl, and she won't even appear again until the end, so don't worry that it'll be an OC fic. I hope you like it.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

 **Great Pirate age 25**

Everything was in chaos. There was fire everywhere; most of the buildings were broken, and there were wounded and dying people littering the streets. The fights had been going on a while now. The weaker people were all down due to either Conquerors haki, or just getting beaten. Even the stronger ones were defeated. There were very few people actually standing on by themselves. Trafalgar Law, Eustace Kidd, Killer, Basil Hawkins, Scratchmen Apoo, Bartolomeo, Sabo as well as other notably strong pirates were all down, either dead or dying. On the other end, almost all of Big Moms and Kaidos' army were down as well and all the marines were pretty much obliterated. The only ones left standing were the Straw Hat pirates against Big Mom and Kaido.

They were all wounded. Especially the weaker Mugiwaras looked like they were barely standing at all. Luffy looked pissed over all his fallen comrades and attacked Big Mom, who was extremely wounded but angry as hell. Zoro and Sanji attacked Kaido looking pissed as well. Robin, Franky and Brook stood protectively around Chopper, Nami and Usopp who were critically injured.

Kaido was a hateful and short-tempered man. He himself knew that very well. The fact that these upstarts were beating him, a Yonkou, was infuriating, but he couldn't deny that he was losing. He would rather die than to lose to these rookies that ruined his master plan that took years to create. Just as they were almost ready to start, these deranged idiots' come and lay waste to everything he had worked so hard to establish. Because of that, if he could take the Mugiwaras down with him, he would die with a vindictive glee. Since he was also a smart man with a lot of backup plans, he had just the thing to do it too. Using his Devil Fruit powers, he activated the explosives surrounding the island.

"You upstarts who dare ruin my plan, I will kill you all! Every last one of you! You can't escape this!" laughed Kaido dementedly. The explosions started from the edge of the island and got closer and closer to the center from all sides. The Mugiwaras looked around worriedly for any way of stopping it but found no way out. They were getting more desperate as seconds ticked on and the explosions got closer. All their comrades were dead now.

A girl of about 11 years of age got out of the debris with visible effort, and stopped everything. It was as if time had stopped. The death, destruction and explosions all stopped. The Mugiwaras couldn't move their bodies, but could still see and hear. The girl was different from anyone else, as she had the blood of a mythical beast; she got experimented on by Caesar Clown and ate multiple artificial devil fruits. The consequence being that she could command time. As well as being an extremely straining task, she knew that it was violation of the natural law to use that power. Because of that she absolutely never used it for Kaido. But in this instance there were no other choice.

"These events cannot happen. It wasn't meant to happen. You pirates need to stop this. Stop all this destruction. I can see the things that were, things that are, and things that have not yet come to pass. It never should have been like this. You Straw Hats are the only ones that can stop this now," the girl, almost staggering under the effort of whatever she was doing stammered, "I'll send you to your beginning. Please make sure that I never get this power," whispered the girl in an increasingly strained voice. The Mugiwaras could do nothing but stare as a light coming out of the girl engulfed them. Kaido and Big Mom could do nothing but rage silently as the Straw Hats faded away. Then everything disappeared.

The Straw-hats weren't supposed to die that day. None of their allies were supposed to either. There was a change in the flow of time to make these events come to pass. That change was because of a chance happening that was 1 out of a billion where someone could actually mess with time. The little girl wasn't supposed to be experimented on. She wasn't supposed to command time. She shouldn't have helped Kaido to complete his plan. If these events hadn't happened, the Straw-hats and their allies would have won. The girl knew that. She shouldn't have become this. So she was righting her mistakes. They deserved this chance. Everyone. She just hoped that they would right everything this time around.

It was with a smile that she sent them to their past. Because she knew about the Straw-hats and their adventures, she knew that she could trust them to take care of this. Even if they were silly, they were dependable.


	2. Do You Remember?

**Chapter 1**

Disclaimer: Oda Eiichiro owns One Piece. I do not

 **Approximately 2 years ago**

In a small island in the East Blue called Shells town, there walked a skinny boy with a straw-hat, red vest, cut off jeans and flip flop. His name was Monkey D Luffy. Beside him was a shorter boy with pink hair, and glasses and his name was Coby. Coby was anxiously explaining to Luffy exactly how dangerous a man the Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro was.

"He pursues wanted men like a bloodthirsty animal and slices them up! People say he's a demonic beast in the guise of a man!" exclaimed Coby fearfully. He continued his rambling while Luffy wasn't paying him any attention.

Shells town was the first island that Luffy has been to other than his hometown. Although kind of boring, it was an interesting experience. The people's reaction was hilarious though. They jumped and screamed every time anyone said either Zoro or the marines' name. He felt bad for Coby though, because his perfect expectation of the marines was going to be let down, but the kid needed to face reality. So he wasn't that worried. But more importantly, food…

No, before that, he wanted to find that Zoro person. From what he'd heard he seemed to be strong and interesting. If he's a good person, Luffy wanted Zoro to be in his crew. Although, if he has been caught by the marines, he couldn't be that strong…

There was a huge wall in the center of the island. It had to be where Zoro was. Important people were kept inside walls, right? And Zoro had to be important. Luffy climbed up the wall to see a green haired man with white shirt, black pants, black boots, and green haramaki tied to a cross in the middle of a clearing. He seemed to be tired, dirty and sweaty. It was a hot day after all. Even though he was clearly at a disadvantage, he seemed strong. Something about him screamed that he was a beast.

"Hey guys, you're an eyesore. Get lost." Said Zoro in a scary tone with an equally scary expression. But, as soon as Zoro and Luffy locked eyes, both froze over. Luffy held his head and moaned in pain, while Zoro grunted, as if he was I great discomfort.

Luffy's head felt like it was going to split open. Everything was confusing but familiar and new memories that weren't supposed to be there appeared. Luffy was a 17-year-old boy who hasn't even found his first crewmember, while there were conflicting memories that said he had been a pirate for more than two years and had 8 other crewmembers. He wasn't supposed to know about Marineford, Water Seven, Skypiea, and Enies Lobby. He wasn't supposed to know who Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky and Brook were. He couldn't possibly know that Ace was going to be killed by Akainu and that Sabo was alive. It was impossible to know that Trafalgar Law hated bread and Boa Hancock wanted to marry Luffy.

Everything seemed impossible, but Mugiwara no Luffy had seen even more ridiculous things since entering the Grand Line. Even though it was oh so confusing and unbelievable, Luffy remembered. Remembered things he shouldn't have, remembered things that hadn't happened yet, but remembered it nonetheless. It made sense now that he recalled everything. That last moment was horrible for everyone involved. It was great that they had a second chance. He had to thank the kid when they see him next.

Across the wall in the clearing, the same thoughts ran through Roronoa Zoros head. It was equally confusing, but Zoro was just thankful that he hadn't let his captain down and let his crew die. Although, it was surreal to know that his crew became even more important than his dream. He felt more content in that moment than he felt in a long time.

Luffy smiled a huge smile, with a laugh jumped over the wall in the blink of an eye and ran over to Zoro, while Zoro broke the rope as if it was nothing and met Luffy in the middle. They didn't communicate with words, just looked at each other. It was as if just that look expressed everything that needed to be said.

"Zoro," said Luffy in the happiest tone ever.

"Sencho," replied Zoro with the utmost trust and respect.

While this heartwarming scene was playing out, a little girl climbed over the wall on a ladder and landed on the other side. She was carrying a little bag in her arms filled with what looked to be food. The girl looked confused for a moment about why Roronoa Zoro was not tied up, but seemed happy about the revelation all the same.

"Aniki! You're free!" exclaimed the little girl happily. "I brought you onigiri because you hadn't eaten anything in weeks!" Zoro smiled down at her and took the rise ball and ate it.

"It's the best thing I have ever eaten," said Zoro kindly to the girl even though it had sugar instead of salt. The girl beamed up at Zoro with a huge smile. The warm atmosphere was ruined by the arrival of an ugly kid with a horrible sense of fashion surrounded by marines. He seemed furious that Zoro was out of his binds.

"Who let Roronoa out!? That 's a capital offence! I'm going to tell daddy about this!" yelled the kid snobbishly. Luffy and Zoro shared another look and Zoro let out a freakishly strong killing intent towards the annoying kid that made him shake with absolute fear.

"Call your dad right now, Helmeppo," hissed Zoro teeth barring. Helmeppo ran away from there as fast as he could with the marines following after him with equal fear. Coby was also scared, but stood his ground because Luffy didn't seem scared at all. In fact, Luffy just seemed amused with the situation. The girl just seemed confused.

"A-a-are you sure you could trust him, Luffy? He's supposed to be a bloodthirsty demon that'll kill you without a second thought. He's called the Pirate Hunter! He's extremely dangerous," yelled Coby manically.

"Don't worry Coby, Zoro's a good person. He is my first mate after all," laughed Luffy casually, without any worry whatsoever. The way that they were looking at each other seemed as if they knew each other their whole life. It was surreal because just a moment ago, they didn't seem to know each other at all.

"So, Captain, what are we going to do now?" asked Zoro casually.

"We kick their ass, eat lots of food, then find Nami!" replied Luffy happily, as if beating the marines was a piece of cake. Coby was absolutely terrified, but just seeing them exude so much confidence, gave him enough courage to stand there without going hysterical.

They didn't have to wait long, for the marines came running at them with their guns pointed at them. Captain Axe-Hand Morgan was trembling with anger that they dared disobey him. He was an ugly man with an axe for his hand and a metal template on his face.

As they came closer Zoro suddenly remembered that he didn't have his swords anymore. He was more annoyed rather than worried though. Even without his swords he could beat these guys easily. He looked through the marines looking for the little bastard Helmeppo. The (at the moment sword-less) swordsman found the brat hiding behind the others, looking scared and smug at the same time. Zoro just couldn't believe that this coward became the marine he was in the future. Just looking at him pissed him off.

"How dare you defy my orders and let that criminal free! I'm Axe-Hand Morgan! Nobody disrespects me and lives! Execute them!" yelled Morgan in a rage. The marines all fired on them, looked kind of worried, but knew that disobedience meant death.

"Where's my sword," hissed Zoro, after almost disappearing from where he was and reappearing behind Helmeppo in an instance. The blond brat yelped and jumped in the air. He paled and called for daddy while stammering unintelligibly at Zoro.

"Tell me where my sword is RIGHT NOW," threated Zoro with increasing impatience, his arm around the brats' neck warningly.

"I-i-i-in m-my r-r-r-room," sputtered Helmeppo, while pointing to the window of his room. Zoro let him go and climbed to said window, while the marines were in a panic and trying to shoot him. The green haired man nonchalantly avoided all the bullets while jumping toward the window. He got in and looked around the room. It was a horrifyingly girly room, with pink everywhere. Zoro was disgusted that this was a boys' room. He found his swords in the corner and took them. Only the Wado Ichimonji carried any sentimental value for him, but until he could get better swords, he had to make do.

Meanwhile the marines were shooting at Luffy, but the bullets were bouncing off him and hitting the marines back.

"Shishishi, that won't work. I'm a rubber man! I ate the gum-gum fruit, so your bullets have no effect on me," laughed the rubber-man to the astonishment of all gathered there.

"Who the hell are you?" shouted everyone there in increasing horror.

"I'm Monkey D Luffy. The man who'll become the Pirate King!" exclaimed Luffy happily. Even though the marines were scared as hell, Morgan just looked furious.

"Anyone who opposes me shall be executed without exception! If guns are ineffective, chop him to bits instead!" screamed Morgan furiously. The marines all attacked Luffy and Coby while screaming a battle cry. Luffy didn't seem scared at all while Coby looked to be about to faint. At the last moment, Zoro jumped from the window, right into the path of the attack and stopped them with a sword in his mouth and each hand.

"Cool!" exclaimed Coby and the little girl Rika in awe while Luffy just smiled expectantly.

"Move and you're dead," growled Zoro, and the marines were scared shitless with tears running from their eyes.

"He's too scary!" cried the attackers.

Zoro and Luffy stared at each other knowingly. The green-haired swordsman smiled and said "I give my word that I'll faithfully follow you to the end of the seas and beyond. I'll be strong enough to protect my nakama and help them reach their dream as well as my own, to become the worlds best swordsman. Captain." They smiled at each other as if there was a joke that only they knew.

"I'll make sure that you reach your dream, for that is the duty of a captain," smiled Luffy, extremely proudly.

"Gomu-gomu Muchi," screamed the Straw-hat boy while stretching and kicking his legs. Zoro dodged while the marines were swept up by the kicks.

"W-wow, that amazing," exclaimed Coby while the marines were pleading with Morgan, "Captain! We're no match for him! They're wreaking havoc! Zoro alone could defeat us!" Morgan seemed pissed.

"This is a direct Order! If you lack the guts to fight, shoot yourselves in the head and save me the trouble! My division has no room for cowards!" raged the corrupt marine. After hearing that, in the blink of an eye, Luffy appeared in front of Morgan and threw an immensely powerful punch that crushed his axe and continued to his chest. Morgan flew back from the force of the punch. He was out like a light.

"Captain Morgan lost! He was one-shot! I can't believe it! Who are these guys?" yelled the remaining marines in awe.

"Anyone who wants to arrest us, step forward!" said Zoro threateningly while sheathing his swords. The marines all looked at each other and yelled in unison, "It's over! Hurray! His cruel reign is over!" and so forth while throwing their swords in the air and celebrating.

Zoro suddenly fell over. Rika got worried and asked what's wrong, and Zoro replied, "I'm…. hungry."

When they reached the restaurant Rikas family owned, they were regarded as heroes. News travelled fast in a small town. Everyone was thanking Luffy and Zoro, but just as they were entering, an orange-headed girl was exiting the restaurant. When they crossed paths, their eyes touched. Just like what happened earlier with Zoro, the girl also froze. After what seemed like millennia to the girl but only a couple seconds in real, the girl suddenly cried and hugged Luffy.

"Luffy!" she cried while hugging him. She couldn't believe that she was here. It was confusing, disorienting and unbelievable, but that was how Luffy was. She actually could believe that this happened to them.

"Nami," smiled Luffy as he hugged her back. Zoro yelling for food interrupted the sweet moment. Nami smiled and said "You're back as well, huh, Zoro."

"Yeah, whatever. I need food. I'm starving," grunted the swordsman.

"Yosh, FOOD!" cheered Luffy as he untangle himself from Nami and jumped to the table.

"So, what exactly happened?" asked Nami as she took the seat opposite them. The boys just looked at her blankly and shrugged their shoulders. "Ugh, I should have known that these idiots wouldn't know," despaired Nami. "From what I last remember, what the little girl said was something like 'I'm sending you to the beginning', and that 'we needed to stop this' right?" asked Nami without any real hope of getting anything helpful out of them.

The boys were stuffing their faces and didn't even spare her a look. She sighed a defeated sigh and tried to remember anything helpful and useful that happened. From what she remembered, this was after she stole from Alvida and before she met with Luffy at the island that Buggy was at. She also remembered the map of the Grand-line was stolen by Buggy. So now they had to defeat Buggy and steal it back. It actually seemed pretty easy; even she could probably defeat the clown now. Wait, no, she didn't have her climatact. As soon as she met up with Usopp, she was going to make him, make her the climatact again.

They all ate to their stomachs content, (and that was a lot for Luffy) and was relaxing and having a good time with Rika, her mother and Coby. Coby seemed as worried as always regarding their wish to go to the Grand-line.

"You can't just go to the Grand-line with only three crewmates!" yelled Coby hysterically. Even Rikas mother was concerned and said, "I heard that nobody who enter the Grand-line Comes back alive."

"But One Piece is somewhere along that route, so that's where we're going," said Luffy without any care.

"Why do you care, you're not coming," said Zoro casually.

"Maybe not, but I'm worried about you. Is that a crime? Luffy-san and I've know each other a short time, but we're still friends! Right?" finished Coby uncertainly.

"Yep, we're parting ways, but we'll always be friends!" Luffy exclaimed happily. While they were having a heartwarming moment where Coby talked about his dreams, the marines entered.

"Is it true that you're pirates?" asked the marine in charge.

"Yeah, Zoro, Nami and I are pirates!" said the straw-hatted boy.

"We're very grateful that you saved us from Morgan's tyranny. However, knowing that you're pirates… we marines cannot allow you to remain here," said the marine with regret. "You must leave this town immediately! Out of respect for what you've done, we will not contact Headquarters," he finished. The townspeople were enraged and pointed out that they freed them too; that they were heroes.

Luffy just smiled and got up with Zoro and Nami following behind. "Well I guess we'll go. Thanks for the food Ma'am," he cheerfully said. As they were walking out, the marine called and asked whether or not Coby was with them. Because Coby could not answer them, Luffy gave him a little push by saying that Coby worked under Alvida. Coby was extremely worried for his chance at enlisting in the marines and punched Luffy to stop him. Luffy punched him back a lot of times and the marine told them to stop, that it was clear that he wasn't.

Luffy and his crew smiled and left while Coby realized that they helped him again. He strengthened his courage and asked the marines to enlist. They were skeptical but let him enter.

The Straw-hats got on their small boat talking about what they were going to do. "We'll first go to Orange town. That's where Buggy is. We need the map to go to the Grand-line. After that we'll go to Usopp's hometown Syrup village. After we've met up with Usopp, let's go to the Baratie and then Conomi Island. Just like we did before," said Nami decicively. Luffy excitedly agreed while Zoro nodded disinterestedly.

Just as they were about to sail away Coby, the villagers and the marines came and saluted them. The Straw-hats smiled and waved goodbye and Luffy yelled,"See-ya!"

That is how their adventure started the second time. They were all happy and excited about this once in a lifetime chance. It was a chance that they could do everything again, to right all their mistakes and to make sure their friends and alies didn't die like last time. It was a great start to an epic adventure.

 **AN:** This is my first fanfiction, so please be considerate. I will hopefully follow canon but make things different enough to be interesting. Especially since the Straw-hat are currently very much overpowered and will blow through everyone until they get to Alabasta and Crocodile. Then it gets difficult. I hope you review and tell me what I did wrong, or right.


	3. It's Good To Be Back!

**Chapter 2**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

The sky and the sea were peaceful and all Zoro wanted to do was take a nice nap. Unfortunately, the witch kept nagging on them about irksome problems. Especially since the boat was way too small for the three man crew.

"I know it's annoying, and I know you don't want to think about it much less plan things in advance, but you have to think about the bigger pictures!" yelled Nami in increasing irritation. "We can't just go on about our journey without any foresight or planning, because there are things we can and can't change! What if we do something that brings an even worse outcome, or we don't do anything and nothing changes! Don't you have anything that you regret?" screamed Nami with extreme frustration.

At the last sentence Luffys' whole body froze. Of course he had something he regretted. Ace… He could save Ace this time. No, he WILL save Ace this time. This was the chance that he'd desperately wanted for two years as he trained his body to the brink of exhaustion. When the time for that came, Luffy will fight like hell, but until then, thinking still hurt his head. He said so to Nami.

"OK, fine, I give. I'll just have to talk about this with the smarter crewmembers when they join: until then, at least think about the next island. Remember, it's the island with Buggy. Where we first met?" inquired Nami a bit desperately.

"What's there to think about? We go there, kick his ass, take his map and leave," said Zoro irritably. Nami just huffed in irritation and sighed wearily. It was going to be a long and tiresome journey up ahead for her.

"We're almost at the island and from what I remember there were three of the Buggy pirates out at sea with lots of treasure. I robbed them blind by tricking them and leaving them in a storm. What should we do now?" asked Nami with hope that at least they'll answer this question.

"Like I said, we'll beat them up and steal their treasure," replied Zoro nonchalantly.

"Fooooood…." whimpered Luffy in anguish while his stomach rumbled. In another time, they might have seen a huge bird flying up ahead, but because they were a bit early this time, they didn't see anything. Except for the three Buggy pirates.

As soon as they saw the Straw-hats, the Buggy pirates sailed towards them trying to look scary.

"Hand over anything valuable to us if you know what's good for you. We're with Buggy the clown," they tried to threaten. Zoro looked at them darkly with shadows over his eyes and glared. After a few moment of beating, the Buggy clowns were on their knees and begging, "We had no idea that you were the famous Pirate Hunter Zoro! Please forgive us!"

Nami smiled evilly and said "We'll be taking your treasure then, and your boat. You can take ours," and added, "Dark, low clouds indicating an approaching cold front have been sighted to the south. Heavy rain will soon begin to fall, accompanied by a dusty squall. Small boats in the area should beware of capsizing!" warned Nami cheerfully as the Straw-hats sailed away on their stolen boat. The pirates behind them screamed as the storm struck leaving them stranded.

"You're an evil witch," muttered Zoro under his breath as Nami laughed and waved goodbye at the Buggy Pirates.

* * *

They reached the port of Orange town. After they secured the boat, they looked around town for Buggy. It was as secluded as it was before.

"Alright, I think Buggys' tent was this way. We steal the map and run away, right?" asked Nami in a hopeful voice.

"FOOD!" shouted Luffy as he ran in random directions. Nami sighed in irritation and pointed towards the nearest house and told him that the food was in there. Luffy cheered and entered, immediately asking for food from Nami. Nami cooked from the stolen food for Zoro and Luffy in dejection.

"After this, we go find the MAP!" exclaimed the redhead in exasperation. After they ate everything that was in that unfortunate house, they went towards where Buggy was.

* * *

"I'll go in and steal the map and the treasures," her eyes turned to Beli signs as she said the last word, "While you guys stay out here and be a look out. If they see you, you can kick their ass," Nami said excitedly, her thoughts only on the treasure. Nami entered the storage tent of the Buggy pirates, and she looked around for the key to the safe. She found it easily because the morons just left it out on the open. The cat burglar smirked and opened the safe with the map with her newfound key. It was so easy that it was almost like stealing candy from a baby. A commotion was heard outside and she hid a groan. Spoke too soon.

Outside, one of the Buggy pirates recognized Zoro and shouted in surprise. Everyone else also realized who he was and came to the conclusion that Zoro was here to collect their captains bounty. Most of them lunged to attack Zoro, while some ran off to warn Buggy. Luffy just hung around looking for more food.

Zoro beat up the Buggy grunts with extreme ease and waited for Nami to finish stealing everything she could. Which meant everything that the money grubbing witch could squeeze out of you.

"So, you're Zoro. What do you want? Are you here to collect my bounty?" asked Buggy, appearing from behind the tent with two of his goons following. Buggy looked as ridiculous as ever, with the big red nose, the long blue hair in the ridiculously stupid hat and the stupid clown motif. Zoro still couldn't believe that this loser became a Shichibukai.

"Nope, I don't hunt bounties anymore, but even if I did, yours is pitiful," replied Zoro in a disinterested manner, just oozing contempt.

"Well. I'm interested in you. Taking you out will earn me a lot of fame," relied Buggy in a high-pitched voice, trying (and failing) to sound threatening. The green haired swordsman sat down, leaned against the tent, closed his eyes and seemingly went to sleep. The eyes of every member of the Buggy flew out of their sockets and their jaws hit the ground. They were absolutely shocked about the clear show of disrespect and the audacity of the swordsman. The most shocked and furious out of them was Buggy himself. Nothing like this has happened to him since he had come to the East Blue. Nobody that strong was in this part of the ocean. 'Zoro is just overconfident,' Buggy consoled himself.

"Shishishi, I think he's tired… Bully, no it was Buffy, wait, umm Buffoon. That's right, your name is Buffoon. Do you have any food, I'm still hungry," added Luffy cheerfully. The expressions on their faces were hilarious. This was just as fun as it was the first time, even though he knew exactly what was going to happen. Buggy was always a very funny person. He should be a clown. Oh, he already is. Shishishishi.

Buggys' whole face was red. There were steam coming out of him and his eyes were blood shot. He looked as if he was having an aneurism. The other pirates looked terrified out of their minds about what Buggy was going to do.

"I'M BUGGY THE CLOWN! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT! I'LL FLASHILY KILL YOU! I'LL FLASHILY KILL YOU ALL!" shouted Buggy with spit flying everywhere. "PREPARE THE BUGGY BALL!" screamed the clown and the Buggy pirates stepped all over themselves to follow orders quickly. They rolled a moderately big cannon and pointed at Luffy.

"You'll regret ever saying that, you straw-hatted idiot. You piss me off. Especially that straw-hat," hissed Buggy furiously.

"Oh, this. Shanks gave it to me. You know Shanks, right? From what I remember, he saved your life," Luffy replied cheerfully.

"How dare you! It was all his fault! He set back my plans 10 whole years!" yelled the red-nosed weirdo hysterically, "I'll blow you all to bits with my Buggy Ball," warned Buggy, he lighted the match given to him by his crewmates and lighted the fuse.

"Fire!" he yelled as the cannon exploded. There was a huge bomb and smoke everywhere. He couldn't see clearly and assumed that he hit Luffy and the others.

"Gyahahaha," laughed Buggy as he ridiculed, "No one can mock me and live to tell the tale. Now, it's your turn," hissed Buggy in a sinister (ish) manner, but as soon as the smoke disappeared, they could see that Luffy was completely unharmed. It even appeared that he crushed the Buggy Ball in his hands with no harm whatsoever.

"Geez, Luffy. Couldn't you stay out of trouble for just a couple of seconds? It didn't take me long to steal everything," chided Nami nonchalantly. She had all of Buggys' treasure behind her, and was leaning against them. She looked ecstatic that she had so much treasure behind her.

"Wh-what happened? He took Buggy Ball head on without a single scratch! Is he a monster like the Captain?" asked the pirates frantically.

"THAT'S MY TREASURE, YOU LITTLE THIEF! HOW DARE YOU STEAL FROM ME! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU IMBECILES!" screamed Buggy in outrage.

"Would you like me to take out this brat?" inquired a peculiarly dressed fellow. He had blue pants with a yellow sash, but that's where the normality ended. He had a white fluffy half shirt, white bear claw shoes and his hair was white and… looked like a goat. It even had ears… He was riding his pet lion called Richie. The lion was large and had purple fur… Everything about the Buggy pirates was ridiculous.

"By all means, Mohji" replied Buggy darkly.

"I am the Buggy Pirates' Beast Tamer, Mohji!" boasted Mohji as he, riding Richie, got in front of Luffy.

"You have the weirdest hair that I've ever seen," smiled Luffy. Mohji looked pissed.

"You're awfully cheeky for someone about to die. You'll learn to fear me soon enough. I am the beast tamer Mohji. There is no animal in the world that I cannot tame," boasted Mohji. He looked down towards Luffy, expecting to be feared, but to find him picking his nose, looking disinterested. The weirdo got real angry.

"Kill him, Richie!" screamed Mohji. Richie attacked Luffy with his paw, in a surprising display of power. Luffy avoided the strike with extreme ease, but the place where he stood was rubble. Richie tried to attack him again with the same result. With an excited smile, Luffy stretched and knotted his arm, and took a hold of Richies' muzzle.

"Gomu gome no Muchi!" yelled Luffy and threw Richie over his head and crushed him against the concrete. Richie the Lion was out like a light.

"Richie!" screamed Mohji with tears in his eyes. He had gotten off Richies' back just in time. "What the hell are you?!" asked Mohji hysterically.

"I ate the Gomu Gomu no Fruit and this time, you won't destroy Chouchou's treasure," replied Luffy ominously. Luffy stretched out his arm and punched Mohji in the face. Mohji was knocked out cold.

"He beat Mohji! He's our First Mate! How could this have happened!?" the Buggy Pirates were hysterically screaming. "Did you hear that? He ate a Devils Fruit! He's a monster just like the Captain!" added the others fearfully. Buggy himself was beyond furious. 'No one disrespected him and made him look like a complete fool! That straw-hat idiot was going to pay!' he thought. Luffy smirked at them and drew a big breath, as if he was about to scream…

"BIG NOSE!" he shouted with glee. The Buggy Pirates were shocked speechless. They just couldn't believe he had the gall to scream that to their Captains face, just like that. They looked towards their Captain fearfully. Yep, Buggy was pissed. He was more than pissed. 'That bastard…' was the only thought in his head.

"You're pissing me off, asshole. You dare call me that?" hissed Buggy in strangled voice, as if he was barely controlling himself. "FIRE THE BUGGY BOMB AGAIN!" screamed Buggy, and the others scrambled to get it done.

Nami and Zoro just stood behind Luffy as the cannon fired. They didn't look worried at all, as if they weren't about to be blown to smithereens by the cannon. They even looked a bit bored. Luffy smirked and called out "Gomu Gomu no Fuusen," and enlarged himself just as the ball hit. The Buggy Ball bounced off him and hit back at Buggy at three times its usual speed and power. Most of the pirates went down at that. Buggy used his cronies as shield and survived. As the smoke cleared, another weirdo with a long scarf that was riding a unicycle came out.

"Captain Buggy," called out the weirdo.

"What is it, Cabaji," asked Buggy.

"Please let me handle this," asked the newly named Cabaji with bluster.

"Alright, show them your acrobatics," approved Buggy with glee.

"The Chief of Staff, Cabaji the Acrobat," boasted Buggy as Cabaji jumped with his unicycle and went to attack Luffy with his sword.

"Captain Buggy's rage has been transferred to me," gloated Cabaji as he tried to strike Luffy. Zoro got in front of him and deflected his strike with ease.

"Since you're a swordsman, I'll be your opponent," said Zoro confidently. Cabaji went on and on about how fighting Zoro will increase his reputation and just as he was about o finish, he blew fire from his mouth. Zoro knew it was coming and avoided it. With just one sword, he deflected everything else the acrobat tried.

"Acrobatic special, Murder under a cloud of smoke!"

"Acrobatic special, Hundred Spin Tops Wind Attack!"

"Acrobatic special, Climbing the Mountain!"

"Acrobatic special, Rising Fireworks!"

On and on it went, but nothing worked. Zoro either deflected or destroyed every attack Cabaji had. Buggy even tried to mess with the fight but Luffy stopped him. The green-haired swordsman seemed to tire of the lame attacks Cabaji displayed and finally attacked.

"Ittoryu lai: Shishi Sonson," attacked Zoro. In a single strike, Cabaji went down, blood spurting everywhere. Zoro just looked indifferent as the Buggy pirates looked on with increasingly horrified looks on their faces.

"He beat Cabaji with a single strike! He's a monster! Captain, what are we going to do?" were some of the question the rest of the pirates had. Buggy looked as if he was having a stroke.

"How dare you little thieves defeat us! I am Captain Buggy, the man who'll become the Pirate king!" screamed Buggy in frustration.

"No, I will become the Pirate King," corrected Luffy nonchalantly. Nami wondered if Buggy was just joking. He had to know that he could never be the Pirate King. For gods' sake, he sailed with the actual Pirate King. He had to know that he didn't have a chance in hell of becoming the King. He couldn't be stupid enough to believe he had an actual chance after sailing the weakest sea and getting a confidence boost, did he?

"Stop fooling around, you idiot! You're going to become Pirate King!? Then I'm God! Stop dreaming!" screamed Buggy.

"You talk too much. I met someone who said he was God. I kicked his ass," replied Luffy casually and added, "Just bring it on."

"Just looking at you pisses me off. You'll die soon, because rubber can't bounce knives, right?" said Buggy gleefully, readying his knives.

"Yes, but I don't have to," smiled Luffy.

"Bara Bara Japanese Cracker!" yelled out Buggy and threw his hand with his knives. Luffy avoided them without a problem, but Buggy just kept throwing even more knives at him. Luffy avoided all of them with ease. The clown, previously confident, grew more and more irritated as none of his attacks connected. What annoyed him the most was because the straw-hat idiot was laughing and not taking him seriously at all. He wasn't attacking but just jumping around laughing his head off.

"You're funny and all but this is getting boring. So see ya!" laughed Luffy and attacked, "Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!" Buggy went flying so far that they couldn't even see him anymore.

"Well, that's that. What now?" asked Zoro casually.

"That was anti-climatic. The first time we fought; it was way more emotional and interesting wasn't it? Now it's just boring. Buggy was pitiful. I can't believe I once thought that he was powerful," said Nami candidly.

"We are stronger, as well as know what happened, so of course it's boring," replied Zoro indifferently.

"Now that it's done. I'M HUNGRY!" yelled Luffy.

"I saw everything that has happened. I'm very grateful. Even though I'm the mayor, I couldn't do anything to save my town that is my treasure. We'll give you people anything you want as a reward. We'll give you any food you want as well," said a short man in a weird armor gratefully.

"Woohoo, FOOD!" cheered Luffy with vigor. The other villagers all came out and they threw a huge feast after hearing about what happened.

"This didn't happen previously, but I'm thankful we didn't get thrown out this time. Luffy is NOT going to leave half of my treasure this time," Nami said resolutely. They had a big party and Luffy gorged himself on the food and Zoro on the alcohol.

* * *

They decided to leave before nightfall and sailed away with lots of provisions given to them by the townspeople. The straw-hats could even see Chouchou barking as they sailed away.

"Next, Usopp!" yelled Luffy happily.

"Yeah, finally someone I could talk this whole mess seriously with," sighed Nami contentedly. Even if the fight was a letdown, she could at least enjoy the adventures without having a heart attack this time. All the fight they will have for the time being are pretty weak. Especially compared to the monsters they will face eventually. Hopefully, this time they will be ready and nothing horrible will happen…


	4. Maybe We Should Be More Careful

**Chapter 3**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

"We're late! I can't believe that we're late! We really shouldn't have partied at the last village. Oh my god! If we're late, Usopp and his village will all die! We have to row!" shouted Nami in a panic, as she gave the rows to Zoro. They were sailing towards Syrup village, but it was past midnight and getting closer to dawn. They knew that at dawn, the Black Cat pirates would attack Syrup village.

Zoro and Luffy was rowing as fast as they could, which was pretty fast, to get to Syrup village before dawn, but as fast as they were rowing, it was getting lighter even faster. Luffy knew that things would change because of them remembering, but he didn't think that it would change so drastically and make everything so much worse. He couldn't believe that them being a little late would mean Usopp and everyone in the villages' death. Maybe what Nami said was right after all. Now that Luffy really thought about it, regardless of how it hurt, timing actually meant a lot to them. Most of the time the Straw hats came in the knick of time to save everyone. Just being a day late would mean death of a lot of his friends. Luffy had to be careful.

"How close are we to the island?" grunted Zoro with gritted teeth as he picked up the speed of his rowing. They were all worried that they would come too late to save Usopp. Zoro could see the beginning of sunrise and grew even more worried.

"We're getting closer, but not close enough. The Black Cat Pirates should attack at dawn. At the rate we're going, we're going to be late by more than half an hour. By then who knows what would have happened?" replied Nami anxiously. She was doing everything to make them go faster, but there was nothing much she could do except making sure that they had the best wind and was on the closest course.

Luffy was getting frustrated with the situation. He was usually pretty laid back but not this time. This time his friend was going to die because of his mistake, this time it was Luffys' fault. Maybe they really shouldn't have come back. He was just making things worse… No, Usopp won't die. Luffy won't let it.

"AAAAAAARGH!" screamed Luffy and he activated gear second. His rowing became 3 times faster and the boat just shot across the ocean. Zoro also sped up his rowing and they were almost flying over the ocean with steam coming out of their boat. It seemed like they were making good time, but unfortunately, Luffys' row broke, unable to stand the stress.

"Oh no, now we'll be even slower! What are we going to do?" exclaimed Nami with extreme worry. This was horrible. Everything was going unbelievably wrong. Usopp is probably dying by now. What were they going to DO?

Luffy took a hold of the boats back and using his Gomu Gomu ability, he used his legs as a paddle wheel. They went extremely fast for a while, but because of his devil fruit, Luffy began to tire. Fortunately they could see a speck in the distance.

"That's the Island! We can see the Island! We're going to make it!" yelled Nami euphorically. But they could also see that the sun was up. The pirates had began their attack. Realizing this, the Strawhats renewed their speed.

As soon as Luffy got close enough to the island, he stretched his arm towards the nearest tree on the island, while encircling Zoro and Nami with his other arm.

"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Nami and Zoro, as they sling shot towards the island.

"One day, I swear I'll really kill you," cursed Zoro as they got out of the tangle that they made, as always Zoro hit his head on a rock. Hard.

Luffy shot across the island towards the village. He wasn't going to get lost this time because he had Observation Haki. The island seemed to blur by as Luffy jumped, swinged and ran his way like a monkey on steroids. He had a singular purpose of stopping the pirates.

Finally Luffy came upon Syrup Village. It was a disaster. The pirates were attacking the villagers and destroying property everywhere. There were children crying and woman screaming, while the men tried to put up a fight and failed. Luffy punched and kicked the attacking pirates left and right, looking for a certain sniper. When he couldn't see him in the immediate vicinity, he used his Observation Haki again.

"No…" whispered Luffy as he realized Usopp wasn't at the village. Usopp was in Kaya's Mansion with Kaya, Merry, Jango and Kuro. Luffy could also feel that Zoro and Nami were getting quite close, so he left the village to them. Luffy didn't have the time to deal with the pirates. He changed directions and ran towards the mansion.

* * *

Zoro and Nami ran into the village in record time. It was mainly because Nami kept a hold of Zoro's shirt as they ran so he wouldn't get lost. It was a close call a couple of times. It was a complete mystery to Nami how Zoro could get lost even with Observation Haki.

"Where's Luffy?" asked Nami while hitting two pirates at the same time with her bo staff. Nami sure wished for her Clima-Tact. As soon as they got Usopp back, she would make him make her another one.

"He's going towards the Mansion. Usopp and Kuro are there. We'll go up there as soon as we finish these morons," replied Zoro emotionlessly. Like clockwork, as soon as he said the word 'morons', Sham and Buchi, the Nyanban brothers, jumped up and landed in front of Zoro and Nami.

"How dare you beat up our crew!" they shouted in unison. They looked ridiculous, just… indescribable. One had a hunched back, green hair parted to the side and curly at the end, cat make-up and cat claws, and looked like a weirdo. While the other was overweight with pale skin, tiny eyes and sharp teeth. He had an idiotic cape and an a hat which covers one of his eyes and cat ears as well as cat claws. Overall, they looked retarded.

"E-even if y-you beat up m-my crewmates, I-I-I won't be s-scared of you. I-I-I'll k-kick your ass," wailed the green haired retard and very sloppily tried to attack Zoro. Zoro just sweat dropped, as he already knew what they were trying to do. He sighed and readied his swords as the retard completely changed his demeanor and attacked him with a Cheshire grin.

"I see you blocked my claws. You shouldn't underestimate us! We're the Nyanban brothers! They strongest duo of the Black Cat Pirates!" boasted the idiot. The other Nyanban also tried to simultaneously attack Zoro, but he deflected both of them.

"I don't have time for you idiots," gritted Zoro. He wouldn't fall for their tricks this time and so he didn't lose his swords. Even without all three of his swords, he could beat both of them easily now.

"Tora Gari!" intoned Zoro and swung forth a forward descending slash at them. They both fell in a shower of blood.

"Heh, can't believe I actually had trouble with these two weaklings," muttered Zoro darkly and the other pirates that had stopped their fighting to see what was happening all gulped with a feeling of dread, as they witnessed Zoros' aura.

"It's the Pirate Hunter Zoro!"

"He defeated the Nyanban Brothers in a single strike!"

"He looks scary…" were the general consensus of the remaining Black Cat Pirates.

"If you want to live… Beat it!" snarled Zoro chillingly, with a terrifying look on his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the pirates and they ran for their ship.

"That was easy," remarked Nami from the sidelines.

"That's because you didn't do anything, you witch," grumbled Zoro.

"I don't have my climatact, now do I? Besides, you obviously can fight them off yourself, you demon. I didn't have to get my clothes dirty," drawled Nami haughtily.

The villagers were coming out of hiding after it was apparent that the fighting had stopped. They looked around, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

"You defeated the pirates and saved us! Thank you very much!" were heard all around.

"Our saviors, exactly who are you? We haven't seen you before," were asked.

"I'm Nami and this brute is Zoro, we are the Straw-hat Pirates. The butler Klahadore was previously known as Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates, and they came today to destroy the village and make Kaya, who lives in the mansion, sign all of her wealth away to Kuro. Because Usopp, who is our crewmember, lived here, we decided to help you guys with the pirate problem. Our captain is dealing with Kuro right now," explained Nami. Just as they were speaking, a loud rumble sounded in the direction of the mansion.

"We gotta go Nami," said Zoro as they ran towards where the fight was happening.

* * *

As Usopp looked around for any way out of the mess, he concluded that it was the worst, and possibly the last day of his short life. Everything seemed so very hopeless and he didn't even know why he tried. He was never going to make a difference. Captain Kuro was way too strong for the likes of him to defeat. It seemed like a joke, how he, a worthless cowardly liar, could ever hope to save the beautiful and kind maiden Kaya. The only thing he could do was delay her death for a few seconds with his own insignificant demise.

With that depressing thought, Usopp looked back towards Kaya. Even at that dark moment, Kaya still looked as angelic as ever. Especially with that determined expression. All of his previous self-depreciating thoughts disappeared and was replaced by steely determination. Even if it was his last day and his last stand, he would prefer it to be to help Kaya, not pity his own lack of strength. He might be weak, but at least he was doing the right thing.

"Step aside, you worthless scum. Or do you want to die quickly? It won't be painless if you anger me," warned Kuro menacingly. Even though Kuro, or the Captain of the Black Cat Pirates, or even Klahadore, looked unassuming, with his glasses and rather proper attire, he had a certain presence, a presence that exuded malice and cold indifference. It was impossible for Usopp to hide his tremble. In fact every part of him was shaking and screaming for him to run, to hide, to get away from him as fast as possible, but he didn't run. He stood his ground in front of Kaya and refused to budge.

"Who d-d-do you th-think you're t-t-talking t-to? I-I'm the g-g-great C-captain Usopp. I-I have e-eighty m-million sh-ships awaiting m-m-my command. I-if you l-leave q-quietly, I-I'll let you b-b-be," stammered Usopp, with shaking legs. It was quite obvious that he was lying and Kuro didn't even deign that as a threat.

"The only thing that you could do was lie. With your pathetic stories and useless tales. A lie isn't going to save you this time," said Kuro and went to strike Usopp with his clawed hand.

"NOOOOOO!" screamed Kaya, as she reached out towards Usopp, but could do nothing, as she was too far. Even if she was closer, what could she do? She was a weak little girl.

Usopps heart raced and every nerve in his body screamed at him to do something, but all he thought was 'I wanted to go out to sea one day and meet my dad. I wanted to become a brave warrior of the sea, just like him.' He closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable death.

He waited a second, two and as it got closer to ten, he opened his eyes, confused. Instead of Captain Kuro attacking him, he saw a boy about his age, with a strawhat, a red vest, blue cut off jeans and flippers holding Kuros claw with his bare hand and stopping him from being cut to ribbons.

"Phew, just in time," exhaled the boy in relief. Usopp was in too much of a shock for any response.

"Who the hell are you? Want me to kill you too?" growled Kuro and went to strike the boy with his other claw. The boy effortlessly dodged his attack and and kicked him hard in the stomach. Kuro went flying at the wall.

"Thank god I made it in time," said the boy cheerfully. "Hi, Kaya, Usopp. Long time no see," smiled the boy. Everyone was extremely confused about what just happened and even more so about the boy who had flown through the window to stop Kuros' attack.

"W-who are you," asked Kaya confusedly.

"Oops, just forget what I said now. I'm not suspicious at all," said the boy in an extremely suspicious manner with the shifty eyes and extended lips and all. "Hey Usopp, look at me," shouted the boy suddenly, as if remembering something important.

"Huh," asked Usopp and looked at the boys' eyes for the first time. For the other onlookers it was as if Usopp was transfixed. He stood there, without moving a muscle and just stared at the weird boys' eyes for what seemed like a long time. Suddenly his expression turned enraged and he tackled the boy and started to strangle and shake him.

"Luffy, you bastard! How dare you leave me like this? I almost died, you hear me, almost DIED! Where the hell were you?" screamed Usopp in fury. Luffy just let him shake him and tried to articulate an apology, but failed due to strangulation.

"S-s-sorr-ry," wheezed out Luffy.

During the commotion, Kuro stood up from the ruble that used to be a wall and took his bearing. He couldn't believe that this scrawny little brat managed to kick him that hard that fast. 'No matter, I will deal with this annoyance as well,' he thought, and went to attack him again. This time though, he wouldn't hold back.

Kuro, in the blink of an eye slashed at Luffy and Usopp, who were busy with their antics and didn't pay him any attention. But at the last second, Usopp stood up and got away, while Luffy jumped up out of the way. The straw hatted boy jumped over Kuro and got behind him.

"What should I do Usopp? Do you want to take him?" asked Luffy nonchalantly.

"Nah, I don't have my weapon and my body is weak at the moment, so I'll everything to you," answered Usopp with two thumbs up. Luffy smiled in response and looked back at the Captain who was attacking him again. Or at least was trying to. The boy was avoiding all his slashes with unbelievable ease. He didn't even look like he was trying.

Enraged beyond belief, the Black Cat Pirate Captain looked toward Jango and ordered, "Do something, you imbecile. At least try to be of use."

Shocked out of his stillness, Jango got out his pendulum and tried to attack Luffy.

"When I say Jango, you will fall asleep. One, Two, Jango!" said Jango and promptly fell asleep himself. Usopp jumped toward Luffy and covered his eyes while closing his own eyes and Kaya was smart enough to understand that she shouldn't look at Jango.

"Imbecile," sighed Kuro, "I have to do everything on my own." He didn't even care if he hurt anyone in the house except for Kaya and even then as long as she's dead, he can acquire her wealth easily. Especially with everyone in the village dead, who else can inherit her wealth but her loyal, humble butler.

"Stealth Foot," intoned Kuro and slashed everything indiscriminately. Slashes appeared everywhere in the house, in the walls, the curtains, and the sofas, everywhere. Luffy picked up Jango, while Usopp carried Kaya towards a safe place farther out of he room and Luffy stood in the middle of the room with closed eyes.

The slashes came closer and closer to the straw-hat boy and as it came upon him, Luffy opened his eyes and caught the slash with his hand. He crushed the steel in his hand through brute force and didn't even have a wound for his trouble.

"I won't let you hurt my nakama," stated Luffy firmly and stretched back his hand to attack.

"Gum Gum Pistol," said Luffy and attacked with his most used attack.

"What?!" yelped Kaya, dumbfounded.

"What the hell are you?" asked Kuro incredulously, as a fist came sailing fast toward his face. Because of his stealth foot, he avoided the attack, even if it was subconsciously. Kuro tried to attack Luffy again and again, but every strike missed the boy. It was tremendously frustrating for the ex-pirate. The boy even had his eyes closed, for fucks sake! No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hit the boy.

Luffy, with his eyes closed avoided every attack using his haki. It might have looked effortless to the observers, but it took all of his concentration to dodge it all. It would have been a piece of cake if he had his previous strength, but his current body just couldn't keep up with his observation. Plus Kuro was exceptionally fast for a pirate in the East Blue. Luffy calmed his breathing and just reacted on pure instinct. Even if his body didn't hold his previous strength, his mind was exactly the same. His haki didn't get any weaker at all. He just had to get his body physically strong and fast again. It would be relatively easy because all of his fighting instinct and his techniques came back with him.

"Why can't I hit you, you freak! You can't be faster than me! Die, you imbecile!" shouted Kuro in frustration. He was clearly getting to the end of his wits. His slashes were destroying everything in the room with a speed that Kaya and Merry couldn't keep up. All they could see was a blur and the room getting destroyed. They couldn't see Luffy and Kuro at all.

Usopp on the other hand could see the fight in clarity. He could see every slash and dodge as if it was in slow motion, but his body, even his eyes couldn't really keep up. 'I really need to train my body again. I have to do the 2 years of hell in Boin Archipelago all over again!' cried Usopp in his head. His whole body just wilted and he sank to his knees.

"Usopp! Are you all right? Did you get hurt again?" asked Kaya worriedly. Everything was terrifying for her. She couldn't even move from her shock, but as soon as Usopp fell to his knees, her instinct came back and she checked over Usopp worriedly. Even after everything that she'd been through, her parents' death, her illness, and now this, she knew that in her heart, she wanted to be a healer. She might be terrified out of her wits, but if Usopp or anyone ever needed her help, she would provide it.

"No! No, I'm fine. The Great Captain Usopp wouldn't be hurt in this small scuffle. Did I ever tell you about the time that I saved a kingdom from an all-powerful dictator just by scaring the evil sorceress who was turning everybody into dolls? Everyone was so grateful, that they hailed me as 'God Usopp' and the dictator put a 500 million berries on my head!" boasted Usopp to Kaya. 'But most of them betrayed me after the bounty,' added Usopp to himself.

"Shishishishi," came the laugh from Luffy, as he remembered that incident as well as the photo for Usopps' new bounty.

"Oi! It wasn't funny!" yelled Usopp indignantly. Because of his brief lack of concentration, Luffy received a cut from Kuro, shallow as it may be. Kuro looked on in triumph while Luffy released a sigh. It was time to take the fight seriously and end it. Luffy had already got used to the speed.

Luffy, with his eyes closed, pulled back his arm using his Gomu Gomu power and finally got on the offensive.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" shouted the Straw-hat boy as he attacked. Since he was blindly attacking, Kuro didn't even have time for a last thought before he was knocked out cold.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," said Usopp dryly. "Your fight used to be dramatic and drawn out."

"I'm a lot stronger now. I don't really need any drawn out fights. Besides, these guys are weaklings," said Luffy with a finger up his nose.

"I know what you mean. I can't believe I lost my swords to those morons," added Zoro as he came up behind them.

"Usopp! You're OK," exclaimed Nami and she went to hug the young sniper.

"Where were you guys? I almost died, you know. Why were you so late? Did you guys party all night or something?" asked Usopp incredulously.

"Uh…" fidgeted Luffy, Zoro and Nami and cleared their throats simultaneously.

"No… seriously? I can't believe I almost died because of your partying! No, I absolutely can. Luffy!" screamed Usopp in displeasure.

"Umm… thank you for your assistance, but who are you people?" asked Kaya confusedly.

"Oh, I'll introduce you," replied Usopp excitedly.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw-Hat Pirates!"

"Roronoa Zoro, swordsman."

"I'm Nami, the navigator. Nice to meet you," answered the straw-hats pleasantly.

"I said I'll introduce you!" yelled Usopp in exasperation. "As you well know I'm Usopp, but what you don't know is that I'm the greatest marksman in the whole world as well as the Straw-Hat Pirates sniper," said the long nose sniper grandly.

"I-I'm Kaya. Nice to meet you," replied the girl politely.

* * *

"As a thank you for saving my life and this village, I would like to give this ship, the Going Merry, to you," said Kaya happily.

"Merry," whispered Luffy, as he looked at his beloved ship in wonder. He hadn't seen this ship in a long time and it was great to see it whole again. Merry was a part of the Straw-hat crew. Just looking at her made going back in time seem like a godsend.

"Merry, I'll take better care of you this time. I promise!" whispered Usopp with conviction. It felt absolutely marvelous, as well as melancholy to see the Going Merry again. Merry was his biggest triumph, as well as his biggest mistake. He knew he shouldn't have fought Luffy like that, and he knew that Merry isn't going to make it this time either, but it was still great to see her again.

"We missed you Merry," whispered Nami as she gazed at the ship fondly. They had great memories there and the ship took great care of them. How could she not be happy to see her again?

"I had everything you would need for a voyage loaded on this ship," explained Kaya cheerfully.

"Thanks for causing all this trouble," thanked Luffy jubilantly.

"That's 'for going through all this trouble'," corrected Zoro nonchalantly.

"So, are you going to the sea, Usopp-san," asked Kaya.

"Yes, I will be a brave warrior of the sea and become strong enough to protect everyone I care about. Then my stories will become reality," answered Usopp with conviction.

They boarded their new, but at the same time old ship, Going Merry, to start the same but different adventure all over again. It felt good to see familiar faces and places. This time they would definitely return here victorious with their whole crew. The next time they set foot on this island, they would be the Pirate Kings crew.

"Thank you very much Kaya! I promise we'll come back with amazing and true stories about our adventures that you can't help but believe," yelled Usopp as they sailed away.

"I'll be waiting Usopp-san," whispered Kaya with tears in her eyes. The rest of the village cheered and waved as the pirate crew that saved them sailed away.

"To an old friend and new adventure!" cheered the Straw-hats.

"Next stop, Sanji and yummy food," cheered Luffy, as they sailed away.

 **AN:** Thank you for all the favorites, follows and reviews. I'm sorry to say that updates will be sporadic and I'm sorry if I don't answer your reviews. If you have a question, I'll be happy to answer, but otherwise, I don't know what to say.

To clear things up, there will be no romance in this fic (except for the comedic effect and maybe at the epilogue). The fight scenes will also be shorter at the beginning, because since the Straw-hats are a lot more powerful, it would be unrealistic and annoying to stretch out the one sided battles. Things will start to change from the next chapter, but not all that much though. I'm trying to make this as in character as possible, so there won't be any events too out of character. Mostly, the changes would happen because of the butterfly effect. The Logue town arc will be the really big change.

I also won't add a new straw-hat member. They all came back, so it would be unfair to add new members that don't know what's going on. If Oda adds a new member, I will add it. I'm still hoping for Jinbei.


	5. My Crew Is My Home

**Chapter 4**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece. Oda-sensei owns this brilliant creation.

* * *

"So, what have you guys been up to, since you came back? Other than almost getting me killed?" asked the long nose sniper of the Straw-hat Pirates.

"Well, I've been trying to make these two idiots see that we have a responsibility to not mess up what we already have done, as well as make things better than they were before. So far, I haven't been succeeding, as you well know," sighed the navigator in defeat. The day was calm and bright for the pirates, as they sailed across the endless blue sea. For Nami, it was unbelievably refreshing, to sail the easy to navigate and predictable sea of the East Blue. She really didn't miss the turbulent sea of Paradise, not to mention the absolute hell of the New World.

"In other words, you and I will have to remind these two meatheads what they have to do, in order to either not die, or to save our friends lives?" asked Usopp in exasperation. It was good to be back here, in the East Blue. It was even better to see Kaya and the kids, and to not be terrified of all the terrors of their adventures, if only for a little while. He's pretty sure, that as soon as he sees Crocodile, or someone equally strong, he'll go back to being the coward that he usually is.

"Oi, Usopp, you need to make me my old Climatact again. Otherwise, I'll be useless in battles," reminded Nami.

"I know, that's why I'm making Kabuto again. Even if I don't have my plants from Boin Archipelago, I still have ammos that I can make from the things that I do currently have. I'll work on yours as soon as I finish mine, but yours won't be as powerful as it was before, because I don't have the dials from Skypeia anymore," reminded Usopp.

"Yeah, but just having a competent weapon is enough for now," sighed Nami. Usopp and Nami looked towards the peaceful ocean for a while. It was quiet here. Except for the noise the two brutes were making.

"They're training hard, aren't they? Our bodies really aren't strong enough yet, now is it?" asked Usopp in slight dread. He really didn't want to train that hard again. Luffy and Zoro were lifting their ridiculously heavy weights, and doing sit-ups, pushups, and whatever the hell Luffy was doing to make their bodies up to snuffs again.

"I know, we should be doing that as well," groaned Nami tiredly.

"Before that, we should be planning what we should do next. We really shouldn't be late like that again," reminded the sniper bitterly.

"Yes, you're right. This job falls entirely on us until the others also return. Even when they do, Chopper, Franky and Brook wouldn't be of much use," said Nami dispassionately.

"Robin will be very helpful though, unless she's being scarily morbid," added Usopp with a shudder. Nami nodded in agreement. Robin was scary.

"From what I can remember, we saved Johnny and Yosaku from somewhere close to here," said Nami, looking across the ocean.

"Hold on a sec, let me search for them," Usopp said while looking with his Observation Haki. He could feel two signatures not too far from here.

"There!" he pointed out. Nami couldn't exactly see anything in that direction, but she trusted Usopp, so she changed the direction of the ship to where Usopp was pointing.

"Heh, haven't seen those guys in a while," grunted Zoro with a smile as he stopped his training, to look at where he could feel the bounty hunter duo was.

"Let me bring out the limes. Those two idiots don't even know what scurvy is and they're sailing the seas," sighed Nami and she went into the kitchen.

* * *

"Zoro bro! Thank you so much for saving my life!" shouted Yosaku gratefully.

"Nami sis, if it weren't for you, my partner would be dead for sure!" shouted Johnny gratefully.

"Don't call me sis," replied Nami dispassionately.

"But colour me surprised! I never would have pictured the infamous Pirate Hunter Zoro to have become a pirate himself!" asked Yosaku lively. But, as soon as he said it, his scurvy got the better of him, and he fell down with blood coming out of his mouth.

"Yosaku!" yelled Johnny worriedly.

"Just shut up and get some rest already!" yelled Zoro with a sweat drop.

"So, where are you guys going?" asked Johnny, after he got over his friends illness.

"We're going to the Baratie, to see an old friend and make him our chef," answered Usopp.

"Yeah! I want Sanjis' food!" shouted Luffy happily.

"Really? That place is dangerous because it's so close to the Grand Line, and there are a lot of dangerous guys out there. I even heard that the "Hawk-eyed man" you've been looking for has been sighted there once before, Zoro bro," said Johnny. The only response he received from Zoro was his body tensed a little. There was no more obsessive need to defeat Mihawk and become the greatest.

"What are you going to do when you meet him, Zoro?" asked Usopp concerned.

"I'll fight him in the Grand line, preferably in the New World. I'm not strong enough to fight him at the moment, but soon I will be. I don't need to fight him right now," answered Zoro truthfully. Luffy had an understanding look on his face.

"We'll meet him and Shanks together!" said Luffy firmly.

* * *

As they were nearing the sea restaurant Baratie, they could see that a marine ship was also anchored there. A marine in yellow plaid suit and an iron fist stood on the front of the ship.

"I'm the Lieutenant of the Marine Headquarters know as 'Iron Fist' Fullbody. Who's your captain? Name yourself!" ordered Fullbody pompously.

"Don't you dare destroy the Baratie again Luffy! We're not going to wait for you for weeks again!" threatened Nami angrily.

"Shishishishi, of course I won't!" answered Luffy without any care, "He's just a weak Marine," he added.

"Why you no name pirates! I only came here to eat at this restaurant, but because you piss me off, I'm going to destroy you!" yelled Fullbody furiously.

"Sink'em!" he ordered and the marines fired a cannon towards the Straw-hat ship.

The Straw-hats looked on in disinterest as Luffy caught the cannon in his hand and threw it back towards the marine ship.

"The hell! Wow, Luffy bro! You're strong!" shouted Johnny and Yosaku in awe.

"Aaaaaah! We're sinking!" yelled the marines, as they tried to salvage the ship. During the commotion, Luffy and the others boarded the restaurant nonchalantly.

* * *

"O'Blessed are the oceans for bringing me this fine day!

O'Love! Laugh if you will, at my poor self who cannot endure his torturous passions!

As long as I can be with you, I'm prepared to walk across any path, be it the paths of a pirate or a devil!

But alas! 'Tis tragic there is such a great obstacle standing between the two of us!" concluded Sanji dramatically, as he gave a rose towards Nami. Every looked on in exasperation, as he looked and sounded goddamn ridiculous.

"Hey Sanji," greeted Luffy cheerfully.

"How'd you know my na…" Sanji trailed off, as right then, he had looked into Luffys' eyes. Time seemed to stop then, as he remembered things that hadn't happened yet. His whole demeanor changed in an instant.

"Nami swaaaaaan! You look exceptionally beautiful in your younger body! I have missed being in your radiant presence oh so much! Would you give a kiss to your knight in shining armor!" moaned the pervert cook, as he went in to kiss Nami.

"Cut it out!" roared Nami with a huge vein on her forehead and hit him square on the head. Sanji went down with a huge bump on his head.

"You're such a bother, ero-cook," muttered Zoro dispassionately.

"What'd you say, you shitty marimo!" hissed Sanji in anger as they crossed blows.

"Really, guys? You just met and you're fighting?" asked Usopp exasperated.

"Shishishi, I missed this. SANJIIII! FOOOOOOOOD!" yelled Luffy exuberantly.

"Shitty captain, is food really all you think of?" asked Sanji in fond exasperation.

"Really? Is that all you have to say to us? No questions? No hellos? Just hit on Nami?" asked Usopp astonished.

"I don't have to greet you brutes. All I have eyes for is my beautiful Nami swan!" declared Sanji grandly.

"Who are these people, brat?" asked Red-Leg Zeff. He had come downstairs during the commotion the Straw-hats had made.

"This is the wonderful, beautiful and talented navigator Nami swan, this is my captain Luffy, that is our sniper Usopp, and that is the shitty swordsman marimo," answered Sanji, pointing towards the aforementioned people.

"Why you! I'll show you a shitty swordsman, you shitty cook!" warned Zoro, as he went to attack Sanji.

"I said… CUT IT OUT!" yelled Nami as she hit both of them on the head.

"Since when did you have a captain and a crew?" asked the head chef with a raised eyebrow.

"Since now. I decided to go with them as their cook, to fulfill my dreams of finding the All Blue. Do you have a problem with that, shitty geezer?" challenged Sanji.

"Good riddance. Your cooking and your fighting was driving out customers," replied Zeff disinterestedly.

"Sanji! Food!" yelled Luffy impatiently.

"Wait a second, you rubber brain idiot. I'm going," Sanji answered in irritation as he went into the kitchen to make food enough for 50 for his endless pit of a Captain.

* * *

They were sitting down and eating the feast that Sanji had prepared in record time, when the door opened and a wounded and bleeding guy entered. He was a thin man of average height and had a scruffy beard and mustache, but his most prominent trait was the dark circles under his eyes. He looked on the verge of death due to starvation. He went towards an empty seat and put his feet on the table. Every customer was looking at him in fear or interest.

"This place is a restaurant, right?" asked the man coolly.

"What would you like?" asked Sanji knowingly. He knew what was happening and he knew what was going to happen. He didn't need Patty being annoying about it.

"Anything's fine. As long as it's food," answered the man. Sanji nodded and went into the kitchen.

"That's Gin, the second in command of the Krieg Pirates!"

"What's a man like that even doing here?" were the main whispers of the other customers.

"Hey! Sanji! You're not actually going to give him food, are you?" was heard from the kitchen.

"Get out of my way. As long as he's a hungry customer, I will feed him," was the drawling answer. After a couple of minutes, Sanji came back out, with a plateful of food. He put it in front of the starving man. Gin ate like a hungry wolf and finished it with a tear in his eyes.

"Thank you, that was the most delicious food I have ever eaten," was the heartfelt thanks.

"So, can you pay?" was asked sardonically.

"I-I can't pay right now… But, I can come back and pay you later! My captain is very rich. We can all eat in this great Restaurant!" Gin answered fervently.

"No, thanks. Don't bring your crew here. There are plenty of restaurants out there. We don't want Don Krieg here. You are officially banned from here forever," Sanji replied lazily but firmly.

"B-but, how do I pay you?" asked Gin confused.

"We need tough waiters, how about you work it off?" asked Sanji amused, thinking about Luffy. Usopp, Nami and Zoro laughed at their table, while Luffy had an indignant look on his face.

"I can't! I need to find my captain," Gin nervously replied.

"From what I hear, your captain can take care of himself. He doesn't need you anymore, now does he? They all left you behind for the marines. How can you still remain loyal?" the cook asked. Gin looked confused and kind of hurt.

"I had to protect my crew! Don Krieg knew that there was no other way! Otherwise, he would have never left me!" shouted Gin as he desperately tried to defend his captain.

"My captain would never have left me behind. He would have fought with everything he had, to protect his nakama. Most captains in the Grand Line would do the same. Most crew would also do the same for each other and especially for their captain. Could you honestly say the same for your crew and Captain?" Sanji asked honestly.

"Don Krieg is the strongest man I know! He's my captain! I don't care whether you gave me food or not, I won't let you disrespect my captain!" he angrily answered while standing up.

"Don Krieg? The strongest? You don't know many people, do you?" asked Sanji sarcastically. He took out his cigarette and took a drag. "Even the marimo is stronger than him," he said with a smirk.

"Oi, watch your tongue," hissed Zoro from where he was eating.

Gin looked furious. He took out a pistol and aimed it at Sanji.

"If you don't shut your mouth, I will blow your brains out!" he warned.

"Go ahead, shoot me. See how tough it makes you feel," Sanji drawled out, as he got closer to the gun. He blew out a smoke right into Gins' face. Gin let out a frustrated yell and went to hit Sanji on the head with his gun.

"You've got to do better than that," Sanji avoided the blow with ease and kicked the gun right out of his hand.

"Fuck!" cursed Gin as he held his throbbing hand. He went to kick the cook but Sanji dodged it and swept Gins' legs from underneath him and let him fall flat on his back.

"With that kind of strength, how do you expect to go to the Grand Line? I hope your captain is a lot stronger than you," admonished the blond cook as he stood there staring down at Gin.

"My captain and our crew will go to the Grand Line! We're the strongest crew in East Blue! My captain has the highest bounty!" defended Gin as he, with a bit of an effort, stood up.

"What was his bounty again? 16, 17 million? That's not high at all. From what I know, Arlong has a higher bounty and that's just in the East Blue,"

"We have a fleet! The largest fleet in the East Blue, we can defeat anyone!" screamed Gin in frustration as he tried to attack Sanji again.

"Quantity before quality, huh. What about Dracule Mihawk? Did you defeat Dracule Mihawk?" asked Sanji lazily as he dodged Gins' every attack. "Mihawk's not even the strongest in the world. The strongest swordsman sure, but not the strongest, that title belongs to Whitebeard at the moment," replied Sanji casually, as if they weren't fighting.

"We can do it! No matter what you say. We can! I trust my captain!" Gin desperately screamed.

"Does your captain trust you? Does he trust your crew? Does your crew trust each other?" asked Sanji rhetorically. "To survive on the Grand Line, pirates have to have absolute trust in each other. They can't have doubts. Otherwise they can't last a week. How long did you last?" Sanji asked cynically. By then absolutely everyone in the restaurant was looking at them with rapt attention. Zeff with a new found respect and the Straw-hats with a knowing smile.

Sanji kicked him for the last time and Gin flew into the wall with a loud thud. He just lay there gasping for breath, almost unable to move. It was a hard week for Gin, the hell that was the Grand Line, the demon that was Mihawk, getting captured by the marines, starving to the point of death, then the beating from Sanji. Yeah, it was bad.

"Fine, I'll give you my boat and I won't make you pay for your food, if you really and honestly think about Don Krieg and his lackeys. We'll even take care of your marine problem for you," conceded Sanji. Gin did look pitiful, lying on the ground, wheezing. As if on cue, the marines came rushing in at that exact moment. They looked haggard and drained with soot and dirt all over their body. Fullbody himself looked furious.

"You pirate scum! How dare you attack us and destroy our ship! I'm a Marine Lieutenant! I will crush anyone who disrespects me! You no name pirates are going down!" yelled Fullbody frantically. He took out his pistol, aimed at Luffy and fired. Luffy just nonchalantly continued eating his food.

"Die! Die you pirate scum!" he dementedly screamed.

The bullet just bounced back from Luffys' skin and ricocheted back towards Fullbody. Luffy looked like he didn't even notice. The other Straw-hats also seemed unconcerned.

"Why won't you just die!" the marine lieutenant screamed and he came in close to try to punch Luffy. Luffy caught his fist in between mouthfuls and threw him hard against the wall. Fullbody was knocked out cold.

"Hey! Don't damage my Restaurant!" yelled Zeff.

"I'll finish up the others," Sanji said casually and proceeded to beat up the rest of the marines with inconceivable ease. With just one kick, the marines were falling like flies. In no time, Sanji had them all on the floor, unconscious.

"There, that's done. I really hope you don't come back here, ever, other than to be the new waiter, that is," added Sanji to Gin and pointed his boat out and told him to leave.

"Thank you for everything you've done!" Gin expressed his gratitude honestly, even with the beating and left the restaurant.

"Sanji, you bastard! What are we going to do with the marines now?!" yelled Patty and the other cooks.

"Feed them food if they want it or throw them into the ocean for all I care. I quit this shitty place," answered Sanji with a smirk.

"Hah! Well good riddance! Your food sucked by the way. I'm happy you're going away," yelled Patty in fury.

"With you gone, we won't have to clean up after your mess!" screamed Carne.

"So, is this our cue to leave?" whispered Usopp in confusion.

"Apparently, Luffy finish your food! We're leaving," ordered Nami. Luffy inhaled the rest of his food and jumped up from his seat.

"Sanji! Let's go!" he screamed exuberantly and headed for their ship.

"So, what do you say, shitty geezer? Do you want me to go," Sanji asked defiantly.

"Yes I do lil' eggplant. I've always hated brats. There hasn't been a single day when I didn't regret saving a brat like you," Zeff haughtily replied.

"Ha… Whatever you say, geezer. Enjoy the few years you have left," Sanji angrily said and went into the kitchen to prepare food and ingredients for their journey. Because of Luffy, they needed a lot of food.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to go now?" asked Usopp, as he helped Sanji, "What if they come back?"

"Don't worry, Gin won't come back. And even if he does, Mihawk will stop them. I don't need to stay here any longer. No matter how good it feels to be back, I still want to go back to the Grand Line. At the risk of sounding like Luffy, I want an adventure," Sanji said sardonically, "It might feel like we've just been fighting Kaido and Big Mom, but it also feels like I've been on the Baratie for the last decade, so it's time to leave."

"Yeah, I get what you mean, even if we have the memories, it almost feels as if it's not real and I'd just dreamt it, and with my imagination, it's quite possible," said Usopp with a chuckle. "But there's a completely new but familiar fighting instinct as well as a camaraderie between us, that it's impossible to deny that makes this journey as fun as it before and not boring at all, even though we lived it before," added with fondness.

Sanji agreed with a nod and continued his packing with a contended smile. It was good to be back and it was great to be going back. Baratie might have been his home before, but his crew was his home now.

* * *

As he was leaving the restaurant, Patty and Carne tried to attack Sanji one last time.

"This is payback for all those years!"

"Die, Sanji!"

Sanji kicks both of them on the head and they fall down like a log. He continued walking like nothing happened.

"Told ya you can't beat him," said a random chef to the two pitiful chefs on the ground.

Just before Sanji got on the Going Merry, Zeff called out to him.

"Hey, Sanji. Don't catch a cold." Sanji froze. Tears started to fall from his eyes and his lips quivered. He turned around for the last time and shouted,

"OWNER ZEFF!" he fell to his knees, "I'm eternally grateful, for taking care of me for so damn long!" with tears in his eyes and his head bowed low to the ground, "I shall never forget, for the rest of my life… The debt I owe you!" Sanji yelled out.

"You bastard! Goddamn it, we're gonna be lonely without you!"

"Real lonely, you hear!"

"We'll miss you!"

"You're making us cry! Dammit!" were their responses as they cried their hearts out. Even Zeff had tears in his eyes.

"Damn idiots… Men should say their goodbyes silently."

"Let's meet again one day! You good for nothing bastards!" Sanji cried out for the last time.

"Alright! Let's set sail!" shouted Luffy and the rest of the crew obeyed and set their course.

"Heh, crybaby," teased Zoro from the side.

"What did you say? I remember you bawling your eyes out the last time!" Sanji angrily retorted.

"You want a piece of me, Pervy cook!?"

"Just try me, shitty marimo!"

"Next stop, Arlong Park!" shouted Nami resolutely.


	6. To Be Able to Forgive

**Chapter 5**

 **Disclaimer:** Oda Eiichiro owns One Piece. I do not

"I really missed your cooking Sanji! Yours is the best!" Luffy yelled earnestly. They were gorging themselves on Sanji's absolutely magnificent feast as they celebrated his return. Kind of.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Crap cooks food is barely eatable," was the comment Zoro made with a smirk. Zoro didn't miss Sanji in the slightest but it was good to eat his food again. It was also good training when they fought, like now.

"What do you know about good food? Your taste is even worse than your sense of direction, shitty swordsman!" yelled Sanji as he went to kick him. Zoro blocked his kick with his swords as they exchanged hits.

"Can't believe that I kind of missed their fighting," sighed Usopp as he protected his plate from Luffy's wandering hands. Normally, Nami would stop their fighting by now, but she was too distracted from her impending fight with Arlong that she was barely paying any attention.

"Nami-swan, are you alright? I can make you an orange dessert or do you want a massage? I can write a poem of your infinite beauty for you and you can fall in love with me all over again!" Sanji prattled on, doing his noodle dance with a perverted look on his face. Everyone a sweat dropped at his antic, even Nami.

"Don't worry Nami! We can beat Arlong with no problem!" Luffy said resolutely.

"Yes! The Great Sogeking will defeat anyone in his way!" yelled Usopp dramatically.

"Really? Sogeking is here? I don't feel him anywhere though?" asked Luffy in confusion.

"Uh… w-well, he told me that he will be here for the battle, when he is needed the most!" stuttered the liar.

"So, what are we going to do when we get there?" asked Sanji seriously. They all looked towards Nami for answers. This was Nami's home so it was her call.

"I-I want to fight Arlong myself," said Nami quietly but firmly.

"I understand. We'll have your back, the whole way," Luffy said in encouragement.

"Yeah! The wonderful Nami-swan can take care of him on her own but if you need any help, your knight in shining armor will protect you and we can live happily ever after," fantasized the resident pervert. Zoro rolled his eyes at him but turned serious.

"What about the octopus?" asked Zoro. He was the one to fight him, so he needed to know how he should handle the situation.

"Oh, Hatchi? Just make sure he doesn't get too hurt. He is our friend," reminded Nami with a smile. Hatchi was their friend. Not all fishmen were bad. Even Arlong was understandable, once you know his full story. She will defeat them, but she'll try to give them back to Jinbei this time. She wasn't heartless.

"Oooh, I wonder, will he make us some Takoyaki?" asked Luffy with a drool.

As they were sailing on their happy little boat and having idiotic but fun times, suddenly, a sea monster appeared. Not just any sea monster, a sea cow.

"Oh, look! It's Mohmoo!" exclaimed Nami. None of the Straw-hats seemed scared. They just looked on with either an interested expression or a bored indifference.

"I remember this. He tried to eat me," growled Sanji, as he went to kick the poor animal. At that moment Johnny and Yosaku awoke from their nap and saw a giant sea monster lurking just above their faces.

"AAAAAAH!" they screamed and crawled to the very back of the ship.

"Hey! Don't hurt him! He could be our friend!" defended Luffy and put out his hand so the sea cow could shake it. Mohmoo looked at it for a while but rather than trying to shake it, he tried to eat it instead.

"Never mind, I found our next meal, Sanji," Luffy changed his mind and punched him so hard that all they could sea was a new star in the sky.

"Idiot captain! Why'd you punch it that far? How are we supposed to find it now?" asked Sanji irritably as he pulled at Luffy's cheek.

"Luffy bro! You're awesome!" cheered the bounty hunter duo, as they danced around the deck now that the monster was gone.

They could see the island in the distance. Nami felt extremely homesick for a moment because she really hadn't been back here for a long time. She had missed her town, her villagers, the farm and most importantly, her sister. She had missed her family. She sighed in melancholy.

A loud noise broke her thoughts. It was Luffy. He was messing around with Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku on the deck. His bright smile lifted every sad thought right off of her chest. She could hear every boast and exaggeration that actually turned even more ridiculous but 100% true, she could see Zoro dosing in a corner with a smile on his lips and she could hear Sanji humming from the kitchen and smell the wonderful aroma from his delicious food. She really didn't feel sad anymore because she was already in the midst of her family.

"It's good to be back!" exclaimed Nami, as she jumped toward her homeland, as soon as they landed.

"Did they see us? Will they come looking for us?" asked Usopp a little nervously. He wasn't scared per se, but he didn't really want to fight as soon as they landed.

"Don't worry, it won't matter in the long run," answered Nami as she walked with a skip in her step.

"So, which direction are we going?" asked Zoro impassively. The others all looked towards Zoro in astonishment. Even Luffy looked surprised.

"Since when did you know any directions?" asked Sanji in shock.

"Of course I know," he looked affronted, "North means up right?" asked Zoro seriously. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. The sky wasn't falling down on them today.

"Shishishi, Zoro's an idiot," Luffy laughed and continued walking.

"I don't want to hear that from you!" the directionally challenged swordsman yelled, annoyed.

"We're going to my house. I want to see Nojiko first," answered Nami to the previous question. It felt great to be back on her homeland. It was familiar and comforting in a way no other place was, except for the Sunny and Merry. Cocoyashi village may be her hometown but the Sunny was her home now… technically, Merry was her home at this moment. She couldn't picture her life without her crew anymore. The last two years apart was a lonely and bleak part of her life. It's not to say it was bad, it was quite pleasant to learn from those naïve old men, but she just missed her crew. They might not have been together long, but they were a vital part of her life.

(-O-)

"So, you're going to take on Arlong by yourself?" asked Nojiko skeptically. It was good to see her sister again but it appeared that somewhere along her journey, she had lost her mind.

"I'm not going to do it on my own! I have my crew!" defended Nami self-consciously. She had missed her sister a lot, but it was hard to be happy when Nojiko was looking at her like she was Luffy. No matter how much she liked and respected Luffy, there was no denying that he was a retard; she didn't want to feel like a retard.

"A pirate crew… when you swore you hate pirates and never want to become one," continued Nojiko in that same disbelieving tone. Nami was getting more and more annoyed by her disbelief.

"I am stronger than I was before!" she shouted, irritated. She knew she was sounding mental, but after all their travel in the Grand line, they had to be a bit crazy to survive so long. Especially with a Captain that was bat shit insane and a crew that could be a circus show.

"You've been gone for a couple weeks, and you're telling me that you got strong enough to defeat Arlong in that short amount of time?" the big sister was worried for her sisters mental health the more they talked. Nami was usually a levelheaded person that was quite smart but from what she was seeing, those qualities were replaced by either stupidity or craziness.

"I can control the weather now!" Nami desperately defended herself.

"Really… with that stick?" was Nojiko's question. Her disbelief was evident with every word she uttered.

Luffy and Usopp were snickering behind their hands as her sister told off Nami and regarded her as an idiot. The funniest thing was Nami's expression as she tried so hard to defend herself and sounded even more ridiculous. Even Zoro couldn't hide his smirk, as the witch got more and more flustered.

"Nami-swaaaan, no matter how stupid you sound, you will always be beautiful!" shouted Sanji, trying to win her affection, which obviously failed. Horribly.

"Shut up, you idiots! You're not helping!" screamed Nami in frustration as she hit all of her crewmembers on the head. The numbskulls were making her look even more stupid, with Luffy with a finger up his nose, Sanji swooning like an idiot and Zoro sleeping in a corner.

"Nami-swan's so beautiful when she's angry," was the muffled out compliment. Nami's vein grew even larger.

"What happened to your plan of buying the village back? I thought you were quite close?" Nojiko asked, trying to make sense of what was happening.

"I got the required money, but Arlong will never let me go, so I'm going to just defeat him and get him out of our island!" Nami said resolutely. Nojiko could see how serious Nami was. She released a sigh, because she knew that once Nami got that look in her eyes, there was nothing she could do to change her mind.

"You should be more careful. Now that you have a crew that you trust and a lot of money, you could just go away. You don't have to stay here and work for Arlong. You could sail the whole world and draw the map you always wanted," pleaded Nojiko, trying to stop her little sister from dong something that dangerous. She didn't think that this ragtag group of Pirates could defeat Arlong, the strongest pirate in the East Blue. They were Fishman to boot. They were a lot stronger than any human she knew.

"I won't leave you guys to those blood thirsty pirates. We will beat them and we will release this island from his tyranny," answered Nami earnestly. "I won't leave you to their mercy anymore. You've got to believe me," she added, looking straight into her sisters' eyes. Nojiko looked into her little sisters' eyes. No matter how crazy Nami sounded, she couldn't resist the steel in her eyes.

"Fine. What's your plan?" she asked with a sigh.

"Uh… well, I was thinking we would storm their gates and beat them up?" Nami answered with a sweat drop at herself. Nojiko face palmed.

(-O-)

"Arlong!" Nami yelled out as she opened the gates to Arlong Park. Most of the crew was there and Arlong was sitting on his chair like it was a throne. They all looked in her direction as soon as she gave the cry. Luffy and the others were behind her, giving her the resolve she needed.

"Nami! What are you doing here with such a serious look on your face?" asked Arlong sardonically. He didn't believe that these mere humans could ever pose him a threat.

"I have the 100'000 belly right here. So, you're going to set my village free, right? It was our deal," reminded Nami suspiciously. She knew Arlong would never keep his end of the bargain.

The smile slid right off Arlongs' face as he processed the situation. There was no way in hell that he would ever let Nami go. He didn't think that she would get the money so soon, but it didn't matter, he would take care of this.

"Of course, I always keep my word," he smiled evilly, the other mermen murmured amongst themselves. They knew Arlong had something up his sleeve. "Although, some of my crew members decided to split up. I will let you and your village go, but I really can't say for them… They just might decide to attack this island again. Who knows…" he finished sinisterly. His crewmates also smirked and jeered, as they thought they had already won.

Nami just sighed. She knew that something like this would happen. Arlong was just a vile person. She knew nothing would or had changed. She wouldn't hate all fishmen because of this though. One man wasn't the whole race, after all.

The sky was getting darker and darker and rain clouds were forming above their heads, most of them didn't even notice and the ones who did, knew what was about to happen. Nami continued spinning her staff and making cool balls and heat balls, the fishmen assumed that it was just a nervous tick or something, but Kuroobi was suspicious. He knew that Nami was a deceitful woman.

"What are you doing, human?" he asked. Whatever she was doing couldn't be good.

"And who are you people?" was directed towards the Straw-Hat Pirates. They ignored him, because Nami was ready for her attack.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!" she cried out, as a large lighting bolt struck down from the sky, directly at Arlong. Arlong went down, like a sack of flour and the fishmen angrily got up to attack her, as soon as they figured out what happened.

"That was satisfying," she smiled, "I'll leave everything else to you," she said in a hurry, as she hid behind Usopp. Usopp panicked, because he thought he wouldn't really have to do anything this time.

"What?! I thought you were going to fight Arlong and the Monster trio was going to take care of everything else! Why am I fighting!" he shouted as he ducked under a swing from a random fishmen.

"Yosh! Here I go!" Luffy laughed out and he punched two fishmen in the face and they went down, out cold.

"Finally, a fight," Zoro growled with a bloodthirsty smile as he sliced five fishmen with a single strike. They also went down in a shower of blood.

"Nami-swaaaan, I'll take care of everything for you," Sanji sang and he kicked multiple opponents at the same time.

The fight was over pretty quickly after that.

"That was fast," whispered Nojiko, as she looked around at all the fallen fishmen in awe. She couldn't believe how strong Nami's friends were. Luffy and the others took down the fishmen, who was 10 times stronger than a normal person, with inconceivable ease. And Nami's attack was unbelievable, but her hopes were soon dashed, as Arlong stood up from the wreckage that used to be his chair.

Only Arlong and his top lieutenants were left. All the other fishmen were defeated, although none were actually dead. The Straw-hats didn't like to kill their opponent because their Captain didn't. It would be shameful.

"Shahahaha… not bad for a pathetic human," Arlong laughed evilly but soon his expression turned pissed "I feel a seething rage after seeing my beloved brethren be crushed by you pathetic insects," he was clearly extremely angry. "Do you know what hopeless difference there is between you and I?" he was also extremely arrogant.

"Yup," Luffy said nonchalantly.

"Then why do you fight a hopeless battle? You might be strong for a human, but fishmen are clearly superior. Do you want to die that badly?"

"Huh?" the rubber-brained idiot actually seemed confused. Why would it be a hopeless battle if he was so much stronger than the fishman? He put a finger up his nose to ponder the question. The surrounding villagers almost had a tear in their eye at the hopelessness of this numbskull actually saving them.

"Are you that much of an idiot that you didn't understand what I just said?" now Arlong just seemed annoyed that an idiot beat his crewmembers.

"Whatever, since I'm so much stronger than you, I don't have to understand you, I just have to beat you," his confidence was blinding.

Arlong got angrier and angrier at the nonchalant expressions on every Straw-hat members faces. Even Nami and the cowardly long-nose seemed absolutely confident that Luffy could beat him. Arlong would show them who was boss!

The fishman opened his jaws wide and went to bite Luffy. His teeth were incredibly sharp and looked like it could chew through stone, but Luffy caught it between his hands. Arlong tried to wrench his mouth free, but Luffy held him tight and the fishman couldn't get him to budge.

"Ret Go!" Arlong tried to say with his teeth in Luffy's hands.

"Make me," the Rubber-man cheekily smiled.

Arlong tried to bite Luffy's hands so hard that he broke all his teeth. All the spectators gasped in disbelief.

Another set immediately grew back and it seemed even stronger than before.

He tried to bite Luffy again but Luffy dodged every bite as if it was nothing. Trying to catch Luffy, Arlong bit everything from a pillar to the wall. Luffy almost seemed bored.

"You pathetic, weak humans can't beat me!" Arlong yelled, almost to himself. He pulled out two sets of teeth and held each in his hands. He tried to attack Luffy again with three sets, but Luffy dodged again but this time, he counter struck.

"Gomu Gomu no Kane!" Luffy yelled out and stretched his neck back and snapped it back for a devastating head-butt to Arlong's face. The force of the hit was so powerful that Arlong was sent back, but since Luffy was gripping his hands, Arlong got pulled back for a second hit.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy hit Arlong in the face. Arlong fell into and through the wall and slumped down.

"Captain Arlong!" Hatchan, Kuroobi and Chew, the only remaining conscious Fishmen yelled out and tried to attack Luffy. Zoro, Sanji and Usopp respectively stopped them.

"Don't interrupt our captain's fight," Zoro growled out and pushed Hatchan back with the hilt of his sword. The octopus seemed pissed.

"How dare you humans disrespect us superior beings," he tried to attack Zoro, but was easily blocked.

(-0-)

It was a typical day for the marines aboard the Raging Wind. Well, not really. In fact, it was quite a nerve-wracking day because they were about to fight Arlong, the fishman. Sure, the Krieg Pirates were said to be the strongest pirate crew in the East Blue, but it was pretty much because Arlong didn't like to boast about his strength. From what the marines had gathered, Arlong was lying low at the moment and collecting resources so he could make a comeback or something.

It didn't matter what his plan was in the end, he just had to be stopped.

Captain Rokkaku was just recently promoted. He was still idealistic about the true purpose of the Marines, so he just couldn't ignore such a big shot pirate that was doing so much harm to several islands. He hated people like Nezumi, who accepted bribes from criminals and did as they bid. As soon as he heard about the situation here, he investigated and discovered how corrupt the marines really were.

He knew that they couldn't exactly take on Arlong easily but he had to at least try, so here they were, sailing to their probable deaths.

"Captain!" his lieutenant called, breaking his morbid thoughts.

"What happened?" he asked nervously. They were in enemy territory now.

"There appears to be fighting at the Arlong Pirates Base."

"What?! With who?" this was unexpected. He hadn't heard anything about fighting. Who the hell was actually stupid enough to fight the fishmen (apart from them).

"…Pirates, I gather," the lieutenant said, pointing towards the Going Merry and the Skull and crossbones that it proudly presented.

"Have you ever seen that symbol? I don't believe I recognize it," the captain admitted.

"Me neither. They either have to be a brand new pirate crew or they're so weak that they flew under the radar," a loud explosion was heard. The closer they got, the more of the fight they could see and what they saw, blew their minds.

A young boy in a straw-hat similar to the one that was drawn on the Pirate Flag was beating Arlong! From what they could tell, he almost seemed unhurt and all of his moves seemed effortless, while Arlong was panting and snarling in anger and frustration.

Everywhere around them, fishmen seemed to be defeated. A green-haired swordsman that somehow seemed familiar was fighting what looked like an octopus and winning. A blond man in a suit was kicking a fishman around like it was nothing, and a curly haired boy with an extremely long nose was bombarding a fishman with huge lips non-stop.

The Captain didn't even know what to feel. It was great that Arlong was being defeated, but by another Pirate crew? He feared fighting them even more. They seemed monstrously strong with the ease that they were fighting. Even worse, the villagers seemed to be cheering them on. He came here to save the village and defeat the villain, or at least die trying, but it appeared that the situation had changed.

"C-Captain, what's happening? What are we going to do?" his lieutenant asked in trepidation. He looked back and could see the fear starkly in all of his subordinate's eyes. He felt himself swallow thickly and couldn't get the words past his throat. He looked towards the fight. They could see everything clearly, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

Captain Rokkaku couldn't even keep up with the fight, not really. The boy was darting here and there, dodging here, kicking there, jumping here, punching there, that his eyes just couldn't keep up. Apparently, neither could Arlong.

His eyes finally caught up with the fight after the Straw-Hat boy kicked the fishman so hard that he flew through several floor of the building behind them. The boy waited for him to emerge.

Meanwhile, the swordsman had broken the octopus' six blades and appeared to be threatening him. The Octopus looked defiant so the swordsman hit him on the head with the hilt of his sword and he passed out. There was something so very familiar about the green-haired man that it was killing the marine, trying to figure out what it was. He heard a gasp behind him.

"My God, that's the Pirate Hunter Roronoah Zoro!" a marine gasped. It clicked. Of course it was him. He was the strongest swordsman in the East Blue. What was he doing here, fighting with a Pirate Crew? Wasn't he supposed to hunt them? He looked to be working with the unknown pirates! Oh God, did he actually become a pirate?

The blond one was also winning. Was there no end to these monstrous strengths? He thought there were very few people that could stand up to the Fishmen in the East Blue but out of nowhere, they appeared. The blond man was kicking the Karate Fishman so hard and so fast that he couldn't reorient himself and attack. The barrage of kicks was increasing speed and he actually looked like he was flying. With a final kick so strong that he broke the concrete under him and burrowed underground, the Fishman stopped moving. Hopefully, he didn't die.

"Have you ever heard of him?" Rokkaku asked his marines. Someone this strong couldn't go under the radar for this long, right? They all shook their heads.

Lastly, the long-nosed man finished his fight. His fight looked a lot different from the others. For one, he wasn't a close range fighter like the others. Second, he wasn't as confident and straightforward like the others. He used tricks and faints and non-lethal projectiles that were impressive in their flashiness to disorient and confuse his opponent. He wasn't as strong as the others, but he appeared craftier. The long-nosed sniper also finished his fight with a hit that looked quiet painful from the ship. The big-mouthed fishman went down.

The Marine Captain thought that the fight was over and they had sailed close enough that they could land as well as actually hear what was happening.

Arlong had got up from the rubble. He looked so beat up that a soft wind could make him go down but he was standing straight and glaring up at the other pirates.

"Who are you, that you could defeat us so easily?" he growled out.

"We're the Straw-hat Pirates," the boy answered, as he stood right in front of the fishman.

"Why?" was the only question.

"Because you hurt my nakama," the boy answered honestly and frankly.

"Heh," Arlong chuckled ruefully with no humor in his eyes, "What are you going to do to us?"

The boy looked at him for a while without saying anything. After a long tense silence, he answered "Nothing." He looked Arlong straight in his eyes and said, "As long as you never come here again and you never hurt anyone like this again, I'll let you go."

Arlong looked shocked.

"Right, Nami?" here, the boy looked back and smiled towards an orange haired girl.

"Yeah, Luffy," an orange haired girl, Nami smiled back.

Arlong looked towards Nami, "Why would you let me go after all the pain and misery I caused you?" he looked genuinely confused and at the end of his wits. Nobody should be this forgiving.

She was silent for a moment, looking deep in thought, "We should learn to forgive and forget if we ever want to truly live freely." Arlong honestly couldn't believe Nami could ever forgive him. He knew she could survive, he even knew that someday she'd try to fight him. He doubted very much that she'd ever win, but he never believed that she would forgive him. He had killed her mother… right in front of her eyes. He didn't know anyone human could ever be this… kind…

"Do you promise?" the question from Luffy that was directed towards the fishman was deathly serious, with a promise of deadly retribution should he lie.

Arlong looked thoughtful for a moment, then he met Luffy's eyes head on and nodded. "I promise," he said solemnly and passed out from the pain.

The smile was back on Luffy's face and he jumped up and yelled "FOOOOOD!"

"Take a picture," Rokakku ordered his men, "Of all of them. This needs to be told to the Marine HQ." There were several flashes of light.

The Pirates noticed them then. The happiness slid of their faces but no one looked worried, they looked more bored and annoyed.

"What should we do?" a marine asked behind him.

Rokakku steadied himself and shouted, "Are you Pirates?" They looked around blankly.

"We're the Straw-Hat Pirates! I'm Monkey D. Luffy and I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!" Luffy shouted exuberantly. The swordsman Zoro, the girl Nami, the blonde man, and the long-nose boy all smiled indulgently. They didn't seem surprised by the bold exclamation, they seemed to expect and believe it while everyone else seemed extremely surprised.

"WHAT?!"

"Shishishishi," the boy, Luffy laughed.

"Then as a marine, I captain Rokakku of the 112th division, am required by law to arrest you, for the crime of piracy," he tried to sound confident and probably failed. His subordinates behind him were readying their weapons for the coming fight but were almost shaking in their boots.

"Hah, I don't think you want that," Zoro smiled evilly.

"Don't worry my beautiful ladies, it'll only take a second," the blonde assured Nami and the purple haired beauty beside her.

"Shishishishi, it'll be good exercise before the feast," Luffy sounded excited.

The marines stood looking at them for a while, unable and unwilling to attack. They knew that they were so far outmatched that it was laughable, but they couldn't run away. It would be disgraceful and everything they hated about the marines. It was pretty much a stalemate.

The decision was out of their hands when at first Johnny and Yosaku, and then the villagers stood to arms and defended their criminal heroes.

"We won't let you persecute our saviors!" who appeared to be the mayor of the village moved in front of the pirates holding a sword in front of him defensively.

"Yeah!" the other villagers followed his cue and they all got between the marines and the pirates. The marines almost looked relieved.

"Uhhhh… then we will report this to the Marine HQ and you will officially be wanted by the government," Rokakku finished lamely.

"Bye!" Nami sand cheerfully.

"By-" a marine almost replied but was stopped by an elbow to his ribs.

After the marine beat a hasty retreat, Sanji broke the silence, "Why is everything ending so anticlimactically?"

(-0-)

The after party was everything the Straw-Hats were famous for. The food and booze were plentiful, the women were grateful and the audiences were captivated by the stories. Usopp didn't even have to lie or to make up stories anymore. The truth was far more bizarre and unbelievable than anything he could come up with. Nobody would believe that what he was telling was the truth.

He was regaling their adventures on Thriller Bark to the town's people. They were entertained but disbelieving. Zoro and Sanji had smirks on their faces while Luffy was gorging his face. Nami on the other hand was nowhere to be seen. That was a given though. This was her hometown, she probably had things to check and people to meet and just reminisce.

Usopp was just happy to be back. To the beginning where their opponents weren't monstrously strong and the whole world wasn't out to get them. They didn't have to worry about anyone for a while, not until Crocodile at least. They even missed Mihawk! It was nice to not be afraid constantly even if it wasn't as exciting. He would enjoy the peace and quiet while it lasted.

(-0-)

For Nami, it was great to be back. To see the familiar faces that she hasn't seen in years. It was almost melancholic. Everything here remained unchanged while she had changed so very much.

She visited her mothers' grave in silence. She didn't know what to say. Not really. She bid her farewell and asked her permission last time. It seemed redundant to do so again. She stood up.

"I hope you're proud of me," she whispered with a smile, "I don't regret any of my choices, past or future, but now that I've got the chance to change it, I'll do it all again with the same determination. It'll just be like the continuation of our journey, rather than starting over. Everything will be fine so don't worry. Even when they're not, it all works out," she breathed out and left towards her nakama.

As she was leaving, she could almost feel a wind passing by her and it felt like a hug.

She left with a smile on her face and a suspiciously wet look in her eyes.

(-0-)

"The same farewell?" Zoro asked with a smirk. They were just sailing away from Cocoyashi and towards Logue Town.

"Why change what works?" Nami answered with a cheeky grin.

"Yeah! My perfect Nami-swan can do whatever she wants!" three guesses who said that and the first two don't count.

"Things are going pretty smoothly," Nami said with a smile.

"Yes… almost too easy," Zoro was always the suspicious one.

"Except for me almost dying because you were late," Usopp was still bitter over that.

"Really?" Sanji asked surprised. He hadn't heard about that.

"Shishishishi, we had to row really fast," Luffy, always the cheerful one.

"No kidding," the swordsman mumbled.

"Well, we made it in time," the navigator answered resolutely, "We just have to be sure to always be on time, otherwise things have been going very smoothly," she was pleased.

"True. Maybe we'll be lucky and not change much of the timeline. Then when the time comes we'll be ready and prepared for anything the world throws at us!" Usopp really was feeling confident.

Zoro wanted to agree but there was a sinking feeling in his gut that it wouldn't be that easy.

(-0-)

The first apparent change came in the form of a bounty poster, or more correctly, bounty posters, plural. None on them thought it strange that Luffy would get a bounty, it happened before after all. What was strange was that in between the pages of the newspaper that Nami was reading, there was not one, not two, not even three, but four new bounty posters.

"Shishishi, it's even higher than before!"

"About time."

"Thank god this is actually my picture."

"Huh… I actually got one of my own this time."

"Why did you guys get one?" Nami was curious, "I didn't get one," she was almost pouty. It wasn't like she wanted the extra notoriety but why was she the only one who didn't get one!

Usopp thought about it. How did Luffy get one last time?

"Oh! Last time Luffy beat the rat bastard and he tattle tailed. None of the marines actually saw us fight, while this time the lazy ass marines came after we defeated Arlong. They probably saw us fighting and increased the bounty to something that would better define us," Usopp guessed.

Usopp's bounty was 5'000'000 beli. He looked tired and bloody but with a smile on his face. Considering his last bounty photo from Dressrosa, it wasn't that bad.

"This picture is actually good! All the pretty ladies around the world could rest easy, knowing that a handsome prince like myself will watch out for them," Sanji fantasized. He could picture a beautiful lady holding his bounty poster to her bosom and hugging it tightly. The pervert got a nosebleed.

Sanji's bounty was 15'000'000 beli. His picture honestly was very flattering with him standing amidst chaos, smoking a cigarette with a secret smile on his face.

"Tchh, they'll wipe their ass with it," Zoro muttered as he lay, trying to sleep.

"What did you say, you stupid marimo!"

"I said women wouldn't even look twice at your ugly picture,"

"Watch your mouth, you brain dead idiot. My picture is so much better than yours, you ugly bastard!"

"My bounty is still higher than yours," and their fighting escalated towards physical. Nami sighed in exasperation, Usopp tried to pretend that they didn't exist and Luffy felt amused.

Zoro's bounty was 25'000'000 beli. His picture was almost pretty much the same as his old one, bloody, feral and scary.

"You guys are funny," Luffy laughed as the fight escalated even more. As Sanji kicked and obliterated a part of Merry, Usopp had had enough.

"Enough you guys! You're breaking Merry!" he yelled and hit both of their heads. They mumbled and grumbled and went their separate ways. Luffy's poster read 55'000'000 beli. It was a significant increase.

"Hey Luffy! Do you think this would change anything?" Usopp was curious. Even though he knew that they were a lot stronger than they were at their previous lifetime, he was still wary, especially about change.

The sniper knew that weird things happened to them, but this time they had an advantage on their side besides their increase in power, they had an increase in knowledge. He could plan everything accordingly and avoid any major, scary incidents if he knew what was going to happen beforehand. The only thing he was scared about was change. He sure as hell hoped everything they did up 'till didn't affect anything in a big way.

Oh, if he only knew…

 **AN:** I am soooo very sorry for the unbelievably long wait. I got stuck in the Logue Town arc and just… forgot about it for a while. Again, sorry… The next chapter is hopefully going to make up for it.

Thank you very much for your favourites and your reviews. They means so much to me and I'm sorry if I don't reply. To answer some of your questions… a lot will be answered in the next chapter. As for the beta reader, I don't have any. I don't even know how to have a beta. I know I probably have typos, I try to read and re-read them but I guess I don't catch them all.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading and I hope you like it.


	7. The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 6

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece.

"The East Blue is so peaceful," Nami sighed in happiness as she lounged on the deck, "No sudden freak weather, no dangerous and mysterious islands that we have to worry about, no shaky needle point that I have to hide from Luffy, this is the life."

"Yeah," Usopp agreed. There was silence for a couple minutes. Luffy was fishing, or at least trying to fish. Sanji was inside, cooking lunch and Zoro was sleeping. It was a typical day on the Going Merry and Usopp and Nami were enjoying the peace and quiet while they could.

The silence continued, interrupted only by the sound of Zoro's snores and Luffy's muffled laughter. The sniper and navigator smiled and sighed contentedly again.

Even more silence in the peaceful and small boat.

"AAAAAAAARGH!" Nami suddenly screamed.

"What? What happened? Nami-swaaan, my beauty, what kind of beast had interrupted your rest?!" Sanji stormed out, searching for any threats or nuisances. His gaze rested on Zoro suspiciously, but dismissed him because the swordsman was still sleeping obliviously.

"Why'd you scream so suddenly Nami?" Usopp asked in bewilderment. He looked around in fear, wary of any possible monsters that might have scared the navigator.

"It's so BORING!" Nami screamed in frustration. The others sweat dropped at the exclamation. "It's been weeks since we left Cocoyashi, but nothing has happened. Absolutely nothing! No storms, no monsters, no pirates, no marines, not even a strong wind! It wasn't like this the first time, right?" she looked frazzled at the fact that she was the one pointing this out, that she was the one bothered by it, because, come on, the monster trio didn't seem at all restless.

"It pretty much was just like this," Usopp said with a sweat drop.

Nami lets out a dramatic sigh. Silence reins for a little while.

"I know I'll probably regret this, but I do hope something happens because I'm bored as hell. It's probably because of these numbskulls but apparently I get bored if nothing life threatening happens on a daily basis now," Nami honest god sounded depressed about that. Usopp silently agreed. The others continued what they were doing.

(-O-)

 **Loguetown**

"Captain Buggy! We have the ship in our site!" yelled a pirate with a binocular.

"Good, good. Then we can flashily destroy them and teach them that they can't mess with the Great Captain Buggy!" Buggy could picture the moment of sweet revenge. How they would scream in pain as they died. Buggy's notoriety would increase as well because the brat and his crew got an unbelievably high bounty after they defeated him. He didn't know how they managed it, but it didn't matter because here, he was going to destroy them!

"Aye!" his crew yelled excitedly.

(-O-)

"We need a new ship," growled a man sitting in a corner of a restaurant. He was a big man with short grey hair. Just looking at him anyone could deduce that he was a very bad man.

"What kind of ship?" asked his first mate. It was Gin.

"Something inconspicuous, something that can blend in and not capture the attention of the marines… Did you say something about a restaurant before?" asked Don Krieg with a gleam of cunning in his eyes.

"Uh… well, the ship was falling apart and it really couldn't stand the harsh weathers of the Grand Line. I don't believe it will even go past the Reverse Mountain," Gin was nervous because he had promised Sanji he wouldn't bring them. In fact, he is actually glad he made that promise because his gut feeling is telling him that Krieg has something wicked in mind… but he hated lying to his captain.

"… I hope you're not lying to me," Krieg was always a suspicious person.

"… of course not, Captain," Gin felt horrible.

(-O-)

A lone man walks the streets. The people who recognize him jump back in fear and wariness. He pays them no mind. They begin to whisper and talk amongst themselves.

"I…Is that Hawkeye Mihawk?"

"What is a Shichibukai doing in these waters?"

"I heard that the Buggy Pirates and the Krieg Pirates were both seen here. Maybe he's after them?"

"I doubt it. They're small fry compared to him."

"Besides, Smoker's going to take care of them."

"I heard an important Marine Captain landed here recently."

"Really? Who?"

"Is that why the marines have been in a frenzy?"

"Maybe that has something to do with Mihawk?"

"It feels like something big is gonna happen here."

"Yeah, did you hear about Arlong?"

"The Fishman? Is he here as well?"

"I heard he was stronger than even Krieg."

"Well, he is from the Grand Line isn't he?"

"I heard he got defeated by a no named pirate."

"Really? When!"

"Recently. A friend from Cocoyashi informed me that it was a kid in a straw hat. He said the kid was unbelievably powerful."

"How reliable is that intel?"

"Very. My friend is the mayor."

"By no named pirates, do you mean the Straw-Hats?"

"I think so?"

"Their combined bounty became 100'000'000 beli recently. The highest bounty in the East Blue."

(-O-)

"Tashigi! Why haven't you readied the soldiers to capture Krieg and Buggy?!" growled Marine Captain Smoker angrily. They were the biggest pirates in the East Blue and there was no way Smoker was letting them out of his grasp.

"Sorry Captain! There's a new arrival from the Marine HQ and we need to be presentable!" cried Tashigi nervously. There was so much to do that she was in frenzy.

"What! Who?" if it was some bureaucratic bullshit, Smoker was going to be furious.

"The Vice Admiral, Marine Hero Garp!" she couldn't believe someone like him arrived here with absolutely no warning. Not to mention the other rumor circulating around. Mihawk couldn't be here, why on earth would he come here? Not to mention the ludicrous rumours that the Revolutionary army was seen here. Tashigi was so over worked that she couldn't even dispel those rumours.

"Wh-what! Why the hell is he here!" that was different. Garp was a whole different ball game. Smoker knew what kind of man he was and what kind of disasters followed him. He had no idea what him being here would even mean.

"I don't know! He didn't give any previous warning and I just got the intel!" she was frantic.

"Dammit! Well then where is he?" Smoker asked. He needed to take assess the situation and minimize the damage as much as he could.

"Apparently, he's already in Logue town. I'm trying to locate him," Tashigi was pissed off as hell because either their marines were so very incompetent or Garp was hiding or some other reason she couldn't fathom. She found the marines under him but no sign of the man himself.

"Never mind, I'll find him. You organize the soldiers and capture the pirates!" Dammit, the Straw-Hats were supposed to be heading this way! He was looking forward to capturing them, not to mention the other pirates. And the rumours… Smoker had a very bad feeling that everything was going to spiral out of his control and he was stuck dealing with Garp!

"Yes, sir!"

(-O-)

"Bwahahahaha! Today's going to be interesting!" laughed an old man. Anyone who recognized him usually was terrified out of their minds.

"Why, sir?" asked a familiar pink haired marine in training.

"I feel plenty of familiar auras around here," replied Garp, the Marine Hero. He could recognize a lot of them. It was going to be one heck of a reunion.

"Who?"

"Some people I gotta teach a lesson to! That brat dared to become a no good pirate when he was supposed to be a marine! Not to mention that other person and if that brat with him is who I think it is… there's going to be a lot of bloodshed," if it really is who he thinks it is… Garp didn't know if he should cry in happiness or rage.

"What?" ever since Coby met Garp, nothing made sense anymore. No, it's probably since he met Luffy.

"Bwahahahaha!"

(-O-)

"Why are we here?" a blond man asked curiously. He knew that the person he was talking to preferred to remain silent most of the time, but he was getting fed up of waiting.

After a length of silence, the man finally deigned to answer, "I wanted to check on someone's progress."

"Whose?" now that was curious.

"You'll see soon enough," the man had a peculiar expression, as if he was willing the boy next him to figure it out.

"Soon? Do you mean the pirates that just landed?" the curiosity was eating him.

"Perhaps."

"Who are they?"

"I believe they have a lot of potential," his answers were the definition of a non-answer.

"… Why did you bring me here?" this situation was very peculiar.

"I thought it might be an useful experience for you," was the enigmatic answer. The man could almost feel amusement, none of it showed though.

"How?" but this time, he knew he wasn't getting a straight answer.

"You'll see," almost a smile.

"...fine."

(-O-)

"Boss! A lot of pirates showed up and they're battling each other!" yelled a man to his superior.

"Tchhh, I don't care what they do," replied the boss.

"They might cause trouble."

"As long as they don't mess with my business, I don't care."

"Where are we going, boss?"

"The Execution Stand. We're supposed to meet someone there."

"Yes, boss!"

(-O-)

"Is that a cannon ball!" Usopp shouted incredulously. Why was this happening? He thought the main point of them travelling back was so they could predict the events that were going to happen! Why were things changing so much that that point almost became obsolete!

Sanji lazily jumped up and kicked the cannonball back towards where it came from. An explosion sounded from that direction. Life continued on the Going Merry as if nothing had just happened.

"It's just a cannonball. Why are you freaking out?" Zoro asked nonchalantly. This really was small fry for them, barely worth a flick of their finger.

"I know, but it's the principle of the thing. The only disaster that we averted was Don Krieg, but we appear to be garnering even more enemies and attacks, not to mention the increased bounties!" it was good to rant once in a while.

"It'll be boring if everything's the same! This will be a lot more fun!" this was obviously Luffy, the almighty Captain. He was sitting on his special spot on top of Going Merry's head, buzzing with excitement because he knew exactly who were at the island. He didn't expect things to become this interesting this quickly, but he'd take it. Luffy couldn't wait to fight the strong enemies and he couldn't wait for his long awaited reunion.

Zoro was also thirsting for blood. He could feel Mihawk and other familiar auras that he would love to fight against. This was going to be big.

Sanji could also feel the exhilaration and the anticipation. He wasn't as eager as their Captain and the marimo, but he was itching for a decent fight. They might not be as strong as they were before the time travel, but they had been training their bodies ever since they came back and they were more than ready.

Usopp on the other hand was the absolute opposite. He had an inkling of what was about to go down, and the cannon ball proved it. From what he could feel, it was Buggy and his crew that attacked them. Usopp wasn't worried about them; he was worried about the looks on the Monster Trios faces and what that actually entailed. His Haki wasn't as developed as them, so he could fool himself into thinking that he couldn't recognize exactly who were on the island that they were sailing towards. He was scared for the first time since he came back to the East Blue. It wasn't a feeling that he missed. He wasn't shaking, what are you talking about? There were absolutely no shivers down his spine, but he was suddenly sick. He suddenly had an allergy to Logue Island and he knew that if they landed there, he would be in a lot of pain. Of course there were no tears on his face…

Nami knew nothing about what was going to happen. She had goose bumps on her skin for inexplicable reasons but she was going to ignore it and pretend that she couldn't see the looks of glee on the Monsters faces, and the look of fear on her fellow mate Usopp's and live in denial land. Absolutely nothing horrible was going to happen on this island. If only she could believe herself…

"So, what's the plan, Captain?" asked Zoro with a bloodthirsty grin.

"I'm going to the Execution Stand!" replied Luffy with a bright grin.

"I thought you'd already been there?"

"I haven't been here yet!" was the cheeky answer.

"Be careful, alright!" Zoro said a bit worriedly. He knew what happened last time after all.

"Shishishi, everything will be fine!"

"…I somehow doubt that," Zoro said with a sweatdrop.

"Since when were you careful?" Nami asked incredulously.

"Since there are plenty of people we should be wary of," replied Zoro seriously.

"Don't worry Nami-swaaaan! I'll protect you!" Sanji broke the brief moment of seriousness.

"A-are you kidding? P-p-please d-don't tell me that the p-p-p-p-people who I-I-I th-think are h-h-h-here…" pleaded Usopp. He didn't know who was here, he didn't know who was here, he didn't know who was here, he didn't know who was here, was the mantra that was going through his head.

"Yep," Sanji and Zoro simultaneously replied.

"Let's go! Let's leave right now!" Usopp yelled desperately.

"Too late, idiot Captain already slingshotted," Sanji nonchalantly replied.

"What? Who is here! Please just say Smoker and Buggy. We can handle them, right?" Nami was getting desperate as well.

"There are a lot more people here…" Usopp didn't even want to answer.

They landed in Logue Town.

"Let's not separate. Let's find Luffy and get the hell out of here as soon as we can!" Nami said resolutely.

"Sorry Nami-san, Zoro already left. I'll find him for you!" Sanji answered apologetically and before she even had the time to reply, he immediately jumped off from the ship as well.

Usopp readied himself for his funeral.

(-O-)

"How dare those flashy bastards throw a cannonball at me!" Buggy ranted furiously. He had barely made it out of there alive, but most of his crew got hurt.

"From what I could see, a blond man jumped in the air and kicked your cannonball towards you," Lady Alvida replied nonchalantly. She had obviously eaten a devil fruit for there were no other reasons for her drastic change in appearance.

"Shut up! Prepare to attack as soon as they land!" Buggy ordered his flunkies.

"Yes Captain Buggy!" the idiots saluted and readied themselves.

"Finally, I shall have my revenge! No one disrespects the great Captain Buggy and gets away with it!" he exclaimed dramatically.

"Aye!" were the answering shouts.

(-O-)

"What was that?" Don Krieg asked as they were walking through the streets. One member jumped up onto the roof of a building and pulled out a telescope.

"It appears that a pirate crew attacked the Buggy Pirates," he answered.

"Buggy? Hn, they're a bunch of weaklings," Krieg said scornfully. After their humiliating defeat on the Grand Line, it was satisfying to see another East Blue pirate suffer defeat as well.

"Yeah!" his subordinates were mindless idiots who only agreed with their captain, but that's how he liked them.

"Who attacked Buggy?"

"I don't know. I've never seen that flag before. It's a Jolly Roger wearing a straw-hat," the Krieg Pirate said in confusion. Gin couldn't help but gasp as he knew exactly who they were. No other crew was that bold and had a straw-hat as their flag. Don Krieg had noticed his moment of shock.

"Why Gin… do you know them?" his voice was suspicious. Nobody keeps a secret from him, especially nobody from his own crew.

"No, not really," Gin tried to deflect. He didn't want to lie to his Captain, but he owed Sanji and his crew a lot. He didn't want to betray them, but just talking about them didn't really count as betrayal, right? It couldn't make much of a difference, right?

"Don't lie to me! You know what I do to people who lie to me!" Krieg growled in anger.

"Th-they're the Straw-Hat pirates," he finally admitted reluctantly.

"The crew whose combined bounty recently became 100'000'000 beli?" a crewmember yelled in shock.

"Really?" Krieg was getting interested. A plan was forming inside his head. "How exactly do you know them Gin?"

"They helped me after I was caught by the marines. I owe them my life," he admitted truthfully, hoping that it would appease his captains' bloodlust.

"Hmm, we can work with that. They trust you, right?" Krieg asked pointedly. He wouldn't stand for a negative reply.

"I-I guess…" Gin was now very reluctant.

"Well then, here's the plan," Don Krieg now had an evil smirk on his face and Gin gulped in trepidation.

(-O-)

Mihawk was glad that he decided to follow these weak and pathetic pirates to the East Blue. It was getting to be boring in the Grand Line and this was the perfect opportunity to witness something epic. He had no way of knowing that such important people would actually be here, in the weakest sea, although these events may lead to the rumours that was circulating around. Whatever happens it would be worth seeing.

(-O-)

"Are they actually fighting against each other!" Tashigi screeched incredulously. It might be to their advantage, but it was the whole principle of the thing. They were supposed to fight pirates!

"Yes, but the Buggy Pirates are the ones that got hit. The Straw-Hats are absolutely damage free," a marine soldier replied.

"Intercept them before they go inland!" Tashigi ordered and set towards there herself. Unfortunately, she had forgotten her glasses, so she went in a completely different direction. The other marines didn't notice her leave.

(-O-)

"The brat is here," Garp grinned. Finally, he hasn't seen his grandson in a while. He hasn't seen his son even longer and his whole family hasn't been together since Luffy was born, so he was excited.

"Who's here?" Smoker asked in irritation in being ignored. Garp didn't care about the marine at the moment. He didn't want to arrest his family; he just wanted a reunion.

"Whatever you're planning, I hope as hell that you wouldn't destroy anything in my base," Smoker growls. Garp ignores him and leaves. "Where are you going!" Smoker demands.

"For a long overdue reunion," Garp grins and disappears.

(-O-)

"It's time."

"OK, where are we going?"

"The Execution Stand."

Two men covered in cloaks disappear.

(-O-)

Luffy catapults straight towards the Execution stand with no stops in between. He knew exactly who was waiting for him there. The mischievous grin on his face got even brighter. He just had to time it perfectly.

(-O-)

"I want two swords," Zoro told the man in the sword shop. He knew exactly what he wanted and he needed to get it before the action starts. He was never going to miss this.

"Alright, what kind of sword do you want?" the shop owner asked politely.

"This," said Zoro looking into the barrel and feeling for a familiar aura. He will never forget this bloodlust. It had practically called for him ever since he landed on this island for the second time.

"Wh-what! No! You can't! That sword is-" the shop owner tried to dissuade the crazy swordsman.

"Cursed," Zoro answered for him.

"How did you know?"

"I can feel it," he answered immersing himself in the familiar feeling. It was good to hold his sword again. It almost felt like he had a part of his soul back.

"Then you know that it has killed every wielder that owned it," the shop owner warned him almost desperately.

Zoro understood Luffy in this moment. Luffy knew that the last time he lived was probably because of divine intervention. He knew that another situation like that happening was miraculous, especially knowing exactly what kind of people were waiting for him at the Execution Stand. Zoro knew that exactly that reason made Luffy so very excited, the uncertainty, just going head first without looking. Zoro felt the exact same feeling.

"Let's see if it kills me," he then threw the sword up in the air like last time and gambled on his luck.

"NOOO!" the shop owner yelled in shock. He didn't think there was anyone this crazy alive.

The sword spun and fell around and around, missing Zoro's arm by a hairsbreadth and stuck to the ground. Zoro smiled a bloodthirsty grin. The shop owner almost fainted from relief.

"Heh, I'll take it," Zoro said nonchalantly.

(-O-)

"Where the hell did that Straw-Hat bastard go!" Buggy screamed in frustration. Luffy had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"I don't know Captain!" Mohji screamed nervously.

"I see the sniper of the Straw Hats over there!" a crewmate yelled excitedly. Buggy looked in that direction and saw the long nose boy from the wanted poster. He grinned evilly.

"If Straw-Hat is going to run away, we'll take care of his crewmates first."

(-O-)

"Start with the weakest ones. The girl without the bounty should be first," ordered Krieg to his crewmates.

"Yes, sir!" they all nodded in understanding, readying their weapons towards the girl walking alone, looking pissed.

"Please Captain! I owe these people my life! Could you target someone else? Anyone else!" Gin pleaded desperately.

"How dare you defy me! I am Don Krieg! One more word and I'll gut you myself!" he roared in fury.

"Forgive me my Captain…" Gin didn't know what he should do at all. He wanted to help his saviors but how could he defy his Captain!

"What are you waiting for you good for nothing scumbags! Get to work!"

"Yes, sir!"

(-O-)

Sanji knew that he should be finding Zoro but an unbelievably beautiful woman that he can almost recognize asked for his help. What else was he supposed to do but follow his heart and do its' bidding. Her skin was so flawless that he was mesmerized.

"Sanji dear, could you help me with this?" she asked coyly.

"Of course my dear, anything for you," Sanji giggled perversely. He floated next to her in ecstasy as she had him in the palm of her hands.

"Who is the most beautiful woman in all of the seas?" she asks him with a quirk of her lips. She enjoyed doing this.

"Of course you are the most beautiful woman in the world!" Sanji answered exuberantly. In this moment he had forgotten everything else, or more correctly, he had pushed every thought about the other women in his life. When he was like this, he can pretend that the girl paying attention to him is the only girl there was.

"That's right. Will you do everything I say?" she asked, all of her attention on him.

"Of course I will!" he promised grandly. His head was in a completely different dimension, alongside his rationality. Sanji could picture everything he could do for her, everything he could do with her, everything he could do to her…

Sanji exploded in a nosebleed and passed out in bliss.

(-O-)

"Stop where you are!" yelled a female voice. "You're under arrest you pirate scum!" she shouted, pointing her sword at a pole. Most passersby' sweat dropped and ignored her. It appeared that things like this happened all the time.

"Oh, it's you again," Zoro groaned in annoyance.

"Do you know me?" she asked curiously, pointing her sword in the right direction.

"Whatever, get out of my way," he growled trying to side step her. It would be extremely unfair to fight her at the moment considering their vast difference in skill.

"What! No! I'm arresting you!" she yelled indignantly. How dare he disregard her so completely.

There came a crash from the middle of the town. Zoro knew exactly who was responsible for it.

"I'm needed elsewhere, so would you please get out of my way!" he growled and push her aside and ran towards the execution stand. She almost fell over but found her stand at the last second.

"What! Get back! What the hell was that!" Tashigi yelled and followed after Zoro.

"Would you leave me alone, woman!"

"No! You're a pirate! I'm supposed to arrest you!"

"Go arrest someone else! There are plenty of other pirates around!"

"Not before I get you in cuffs!" their screams echoes throughout the street.

(-O-)

"Why the hell are you attacking me!?" Usopp shouted in fear as he ran through the street. He couldn't believe the Buggys would pick him as their target! They hadn't even met yet!

"Attack!"

"Get that bastard!"

"I will flashily destroy you!" were the screams that followed him as Usopp dodged and weaved around the projectiles headed his way. In the background, he could hear Zoro having a shouting match and running away from the marine sword chick, but he didn't have time to find their wandering swordsman. Usopp wasn't just running for his life. He knew that the Buggys weren't all that strong and that he could take them on all by himself, but he didn't want any close range fight. He was sniping them one by one, using his entire arsenal.

"Hi Tori no Boshi!" he called out and attacked with his Firebird star pellet. It was effective enough as in it defeated about four of the Buggy Pirates. It was not advantageous in that it also destroyed some buildings. Usopp would feel guilty about that later.

"How dare you attack us! Come here so I can flashily beat you!" Buggy cried out in anger. Usopp sweat dropped. Why the hell would he go to them just to be beaten? His motto was run away as fast as he can and he would stick to it.

Usopp could feel Buggy trying to attack him again. His Haki could see Buggy's sword hand separating from his body and flying towards him.

"Bara Bara Ho!" Buggy yells and his hand flies towards him.

"Torimochi Boshi!" Usopp cried out and shot his Sticky Star towards Buggy's hand.

Buggy's hand along with his sword gets stuck on the ground. He screams in fury. "You idiots! Get this stuff off of me! And catch that bastard!" he screams, trying to pull his hand free.

"Hah! Take that! No one can beat the almighty Captain Usopp!" he boasted, looking backwards. He knew he was good, but it felt great to see it first hand. Unfortunately it was at that moment that there was a loud crash from the center of the town. He knew exactly what made the noise and he looked towards it, but because of his lack of attention, he tripped.

"Aaaaargh!" he screams falling down on his nose. Just as always, his nose was the thing that got injured first.

"Catch him!" Mohji cries and Richie jumps towards Usopp. The long nosed sniper panics and tries to attack.

"Tokusei Tabasco Boshi!" he yells and shoots pellets of Tabasco sauce into Richie's mouth.

The lion roars in pain. It blows out fire from his mouth and tears run down his eyes like a waterfall.

"RICHIE!" Mohji yells and kneels beside the lion. He strokes his fur and tries to help him. The lion just whimpers in pain.

"How dare you!" Cabaji yells and attacks Usopp. Usopp yells and scoots backward getting up.

"Kyokugi! Kaji Oyaji!" Cabaji yells and breahes fire towards Usopp.

"Aaaaargh!" Usopp yells and avoid the hit barely. "Are you kidding me! Stop attacking me! What did I ever do to you! We haven't even met in this timeline!" he yells and avoids even more hits from the other Buggy Pirates.

"What! That doesn't even make sense!" Buggy yells, "But whatever, I want my revenge against your Captain! He dared humiliate me. No one humiliates Buggy and lives to tell the tale!" Buggy yells, having finally gotten his hand free.

"Bara Bara Senbei!" Buggy attacks with his lower half.

"Why is this happening to me!" Usopp yells and avoids the attack. It turns around and attacks him again from the back. He barely manages to dodge it again but Cabaji attacks him as well.

"Kyoguki! Yukemuri Satsujin Jiken!" the acrobat yells and sneak attacks Usopp. In the middle of both attack, Usopp lies on the ground and make them hit each other.

"Cho Kemuri Boshi!" he yells out and throws a smoke pellet towards the Buggy Pirates. In the commotion and confusion, Usopp runs away towards the Execution Stand where he absolutely knew the main action was going to happen. He didn't actually even want to go there, but he knew that he had to be there.

With tears in his eyes, Usopp runs toward the major catastrophe that was going to happen with a bloodthirsty Pirate crew at his heels.

"This was supposed to be EASY! Why is this happening to me! I want to get out of here! LUFFY!"

(-O-)

"What! Let go of me!" Nami cried out at Gin. "What are you doing? By the way, why are you even here?" her anger turns into confusion at the end.

The Krieg Pirates were surrounding her. The streets were emptying by the second because of the commotions caused by Zoro and Usopp, and the people who noticed the Krieg Pirates were running away as well. Unfortunately, most were running towards the Execution Stand.

"Capture her. We'll lure the others with her as bait and threaten them until they surrender," Krieg said softly, " but first, to make them believe that we mean business, let's rough her up a bit before hand, now shall we," he smirked evilly. The others shrieked in agreement. Gin looked horrified.

"Let me go! You'll regret this!" Nami yelled I vain. Krieg stepped closer towards her, his intention clear.

"Screw this," the navigator muttered to herself and kicks Gin in the crotch. He doubles over in pain and most men looking on winces in sympathy.

She gets out her Clima-Tact before anyone else could react and attacks.

"Cyclone Tempo!" she yells throws her x shaped Clima-tact towards the pirates. It hits everyone and flies back towards her.

"What!"

"She can fight!"

"Where did she go?" were the mutters the Krieg Pirates asked themselves. Nami herself was long gone by the time they thought to look for her.

"There she is!" the Krieg sniper yelled, pointing towards where she was disappearing. Nami turned her head around, pulled down one of her eye and stuck her tongue out. Then she disappeared around a corner.

"Capture her! I don't care if you maim her or hurt her, just catch her!" Krieg ordered and ran after her. Gin paused for a moment. He didn't know what he should do. It felt like he was caught between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't refuse a direct order from his captain but he couldn't hurt his saviors either.

A loud crash came from the direction of the Execution Stand. Everyone looked on in confusion and Nami sighed in exasperation. She knew exactly what had made the noise.

"Stop!" the flunkies yelled as they chased after her. They pushed and shoved everyone that got in their way, regardless of age and gender. A little old lady cried out as they pushed her aside and she fell on the sidewalk.

Nami paused and looked back. She saw the old lady and her fury rose. She produces Heat Balls and Cool Balls with her Clima-Tact, making a cloud above her. The Krieg Pirates gets closer and closer to her, but she makes more and more balls until there are a lot of clouds above her. Just as they were nearing her she yells out,

"Thunderbolt Tempo!" and attacks all of them with lightning. It isn't as strong as the ones she had in the New World, not even as strong as the ones after Skypiea, but it does its duty and they all go down.

"Hah! Eat that! You really think you can beat me that easily? I can take care of myself," Nami boasted. She helped the old lady up, "Are you alright?" she asks her.

"Oh, thank you my dear," she replies with a smile but her smile drops in a moment, "Oh dear, I think you better run," she warns her. Nami looks back and she could see that Krieg was getting up.

"Better run!" she says quickly and starts to run towards the center of the town. She knew that the Kriegs were running after her.

"I regret everything I said this morning! I want to go back to being bored!" she cries as she disappears from view.

(-O-)

Just as he was floating in bliss, all of his hackles rose, the fog of perversion lifted from his head because he noticed that Nami swan was in danger.

"What's the matter Sanji?" Lady Alvida asks dangerously. She wouldn't allow his attention to stray anywhere away from her.

"I-I have to go away," he stuttered, not knowing how to say goodbye, but having a need to save Nami.

"Go away?" she asks with an arch of her eyebrow, "You're not leaving anywhere," she said finally. Sanji was torn. He didn't know what he was supposed to do.

"I'm sorry. Please accept my apologies, but I have to go," he stammered and stepped backwards. This was one of the hardest thing he did.

"I won't let you!" she snarled and pulled at his tie. Sanji had difficult time breathing.

"Please… I need to go" he gasped as he struggled to breath.

"You won't leave me, now will you?" she asks with a pout.

"Hohohohoho!" Sanji laughs and noodle spins with huge hearts in his eyes. "Alvida-chaaaaan! Of course I won't le-" he stopped because he felt Nami-sans distress. She didn't seem to be hurt, but from what he could feel, multiple people were chasing her.

"Forgive me my beautiful Alvida-chaaaaan!" he begs and runs away as fast as he could.

"Sanji-kun!" she calls to him sweetly.

"Yes, Alvida-chan?" he asks idiotically. She throws her mace as hard as she could at him and he falls down in a spray of blood. She walks towards his fallen body.

"You're never leaving my side," she concludes decisively. Sanji whimpers pathetically in joy and pain.

(-O-)

"Where are you even running to!" Tashigi yells in exasperation. They had passed by that street twice already.

"Quit following me! And it doesn't matter to you now does it!" he growls in annoyance. He could swear he was running towards the Execution Stand. He had to be getting closer.

He could hear a commotion in the direction he was running in. He was almost there. Zoro smiled in relief. Finally!

"ZORO!" Usopp yells in relief. "HELP ME!" he yells and runs past him in the opposite direction. The Buggy Pirates were running after Usopp with fury in their veins.

"Catch that long nose bastard!"

"Don't let him get away!"

"I'll kill you!" were the screams that he heard. They didn't even notice Zoro or the marines that were following him, who had also stopped in shock that the pirates were daring to rampage in their town this carefree.

"Where are you going!" Zoro asked in shock.

"What do you mean where? I'm running towards the Execution Stand! Are you seriously lost again! We can even see it from here!" Usopp yelled in exasperation. He disappeared around a corner the Buggy Pirates following after him.

There was a bit of silence after that.

"Are you really lost?" Tashigi asked in confusion. She couldn't believe anyone was that hopeless.

"Shut up!" Zoro screamed in embarrassment, "I was just trying to lose you," he lied poorly and ran after the direction he thought Usopp had run in.

"You do know that that is still the wrong direction right?" Tashigi had humour in her voice now.

"This is the right direction!" Zoro yelled indignantly. He heard another commotion from the direction he was running towards. "See!" he boasted victoriously.

"ZOROOOOO!" Nami yelled in relief. The Krieg Pirates were following right at her heels.

"Nami!" Zoro looked surprised; maybe she was running in this direction because she saw him?

"Zoro, where are you running towards? I thought we were supposed to go to the Execution Stand?" Nami asked surprised. Zoro stopped in shock. He could swear he was following after Usopp. Maybe Usopp also got lost?

"AAAAARGH! Zoro! Take care of them!" Nami cried as the Krieg Pirates fired on her. Zoro glared at them.

"Ul-Tora Gari!" Zoro says and attacks them. He mutes his power a bit because he didn't want to destroy the town, but regardless, a lot of the Krieg Pirates falls down in a spray of blood.

"Thanks Zoro!" Nami yells and disappears around a corner.

"So, you were lost again, huh?" Tashigi laughs and attacks him.

"Shut up! I'm going the right way now!" he dodges her attack and runs after where he thinks the remaining Kriegs disappeared following Nami.

"That's still the wrong direction," Tashigi singsongs after him, readying another attack. Zoro grits his teeth and runs in another direction.

"Still wrong," Tashigi felt frustration that none of her attacks seem to be doing anything towards the green haired swordsman, but her frustration was slightly abetted by the fact that he was so very incompetent directionally. Her wounded pride was slightly more healed.

"Dammit!" Zoro growls and changes direction again. This one has to be the right one, right?

"Hahaha, you really are hopeless, aren't you?" Tashigi wonders aloud. She attacks again but Zoro dodges without even paying attention.

"Hah! That curly haired cook is there, so I have to be going the right direction!" he crows victoriously. "Oi! Sanji!" he yells.

"Hmmm, marimo?" Sanji wonders in a daze, finding himself faint with the lack of air. Alvida was choking him with his own tie and there was nothing he could do about it. If he was going to do die, at least it was by a beautiful lady.

"What are you doing?!" Zoro asks in shock. That curly eyebrow was actually dying because of his own stupidity. "Cut it out! We need to go to the Execution Stand!" he yells hoping to get him to wake up.

"Alvida-saaaaan," Sanji sighs in ecstasy as his eyes grew dark and his head loll to the side.

"YOU IDIOT!" Zoro yells and tries to attack Alvida. Unfortunately, because of her Devil Fruit powers, the strike rolls right off of her, but fortunately, she lets go of Sanji.

"You… how dare you attack this beautiful lady!" Sanji screams in fury and kicks at Zoro, but because of his air deprivation, the kick turns out to be very weak.

"Are you retarded?! She was killing you!" Zoro really could not believe anyone could be this stupid.

"That doesn't matter! You never hit a lady!" Sanji chides and catches his breath.

"Sanji dear, could you get rid of this annoying piece of trash?" Alvida asks sweetly.

"With pleasure, my love," Sanji noodle dances and goes to attack Zoro.

"Are you kidding me!" Zoro yells and avoids his kick. He knew that Sanji probably should be at the Execution Stand with the rest of his crew and he definitely wasn't going to be there if he was stuck with this woman. He knew with absolute certainty that Sanji was never going to beat her, so it was up to him. What did Luffy say? We were all good at something and bad at others; it was up to our crewmates to help in our deficiencies? He said something like that (but more Luffyesquely).

"Gyuki Yuzume!" Zoro tries to attack Alvida again. The attack also slides off.

"Haha, you've noticed haven't you? The name of my Devil Fruit is the Sube Sube no mi! There is no attack that can leave a wound on my beautiful skin anymore!" she boasted arrogantly. The bystanders watching notice her skin.

"Her skin is sooo flawless!"

"She's sooo beautiful!"

"Heh, so it's a Devil Fruit, huh?" Zoro smirks evilly, "As long as I use Haki, there's nothing to worry about."

"What? Haki?" she asks confused.

Zoro's sword turns black and his grin turns bloody. Sanji looks in horror as Zoro readies himself for his next move. Tashigi and the marines try to intercept him.

"Oni Giri!" he growls out and strikes. Alvida looks shocked as a mighty wind blows past her. Her legs buckle beneath her and she falls to her knees. Her clothes rip in precise patterns.

"Wha-what did you do?" she asks in a faint voice.

"I didn't kill you," Zoro answers monotonously, "I didn't even hurt you."

Shaken only by the overwhelming fear she felt in the moment the swordsman looked her right in the eyes as he was rushing towards her, she passes out.

The onlookers looked both confused and freaked out at the same time.

"Wh-what just happened?" the marines ask Tashigi.

"Why didn't you strike her?" Tashigi asks Zoro crossly. If he did it because she was a woman, Tashigi would be pissed.

"That doesn't matter to you," Zoro answers disinterestedly.

"If it's bec-" Tashigi begins to yell but gets cut off by Sanji.

"How dare you scare a beautiful woman like that!" he screams in fury and before Zoro could scream back at him, Sanji kicks Zoro hard towards the sky. Zoro disappears from view.

The marines look on in shock.

"W-why did you do that?" a marine asks in confusion. Sanji lights up a cigarette and smirks.

"Unless I did that, it would have taken an eternity until the directionally challenged marimo made his way to the Execution stand," he replies and jump-flies up into the sky after his crewmate.

The marines and Tashigi looked on in confused awe as they disappear.

 **AN:** Hope you liked this chapter. I was stuck on this for almost a year. The next chapter would be the last part of the East Blue Saga and I'm sorry that it might also take a while.


End file.
